This Is What The Title Should Have Been, And The Poster Looked Like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            I am talking, of course, about last Saturday's broadcast of 1971's "Willard," darlings, which was titled as above, and should have remained so.  Images featuring Bruce Davison like this should have been shown throughout, especially when alone, interacting with the rats, or wreaking vengeance on people with them.

                                             When I first saw "Willard," in 1971, I knew what it was based on, and I thought it entertaining.  Fifty-three years later, on a second viewing, I found it disturbing.  It reminded me of some of the more painful aspects of my past.

                                                  Sure, the rats are creepy and some of the murders scary, but this is truly a study of a young man's descent into madness.  The birthday party scene was especially disturbing to me, especially when all of his mother's friends start telling him how he should live his life in terms of his job, getting one, staying there, and inviting Mr. Martin (Ernest Borgnine as Willard's abusive boss, whose behavior to him today would not be tolerated.) to the gathering.  It reminded me of when I was first out of college and some relatives would chide me for not having a real job, or finding one right away, berating anything I was interested in, or really wanted to do.  When Willard says to Martin "You made me hate myself!" I understood exactly what he meant.

                                                     It was smart to cast good looking Bruce Davison in the role, as the pathos of his situation becomes more apparent, to the point that one can sympathize will Willard to a degree.  Everyone having seen this film talks about the famous scene in Mr. Martin's office.  It is every disgruntled employee's fantasy, and the most famous scene in the film.

                                                     But though I sympathize to a degree with Willard, there are times when I found him dislikable.  Like watching Socrates be killed.  He was going to be sacked, anyway, so what difference would it have made if he stepped in and took Socrates, and went home?  Then as his relationship with Joan (Sondra Locke) progresses, Willard is quick to abandon his rat friends, which does not say much for how he might treat human friends.  And when he screams his hate at Ben, and then, at the end, says "I was good to you, Ben!" before the rats turn on him, this is a falsity, because once he did not need the rats as friends, he abandoned them.

                                                       So, I found the film disturbing in a way I had not expected.  Davison's performance is on a par with Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, though the film is not as good.  Daniel Mann directed this well, but I wonder what Hitchcock might have done with it?    Was he ever approached about it????????????

                                                         And, good as he was, I still think Bruce Davison should have donned that rat face mask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                           But this version is the real thing, not the 2003 remake.

                                                          It proves four legged rats are just as deadly as the two-legged ones!!!!!!!!!!!!