Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

billcr12 I first saw this film in 1971 and just watched it again 47 years later. The only line I remembered was tear him up. I will not explain the line. A young man working in an office and living with his mother in a grand old California house is befriended by some rats who he feeds every day. Of course, he is treated badly by his boss and eventually gets revenge by using his rodent buddies. Ernest Borgnine is the bad guy and he is hilarious. The movie is quite campy and it is highly entertaining. This ain't high art but it is worth it for a few laughs.

SnoopyStyle Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison) is an introvert. His mother is bedridden. Her friends throw him a surprise birthday party and berate him for losing his father's business to Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine) who hired Joan (Sondra Locke) to take over his work. He has no friends but finds friendship with the rats in the backyard. Soon, his friends are multitudes willing to do his bidding.The idea is there but this is shot in a flat, uninspired manner. The actors are either first rate or on their way. Borgnine is gloriously evil. Davison is a little green around the edges. This should be a lot more compelling. There should be more tension. It's got some creepiness but I would like more.

Michael_Elliott Willard (1971) *** (out of 4) Effective film about Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison), a rather awkward man who is pretty much pushed around by everyone who knows him. His entire life is devoted to his mother (Elsa Lanchester) but after she dies he sinks further into a strange mental state where he only friends are rats. Soon his boss (Ernest Borgnine) tries coming after the home he's lived in all his life and Willard decides enough is enough.WILLARD is a film that I watched when I was around ten or so and I really didn't care too much for it. Revisiting it over twenty-five years later it's easy to see why I didn't like it. As a kid I loved gory and over-the-top horror movies and that's certainly not what WILLARD is. No, this here is really a bizarre character study but one that manages to be highly entertaining because of four great performances in the film as well as a good story and a great character.There's a lot to really enjoy here but what impressed me most is the fact that for a "horror" film there really aren't any horrific moments until the finale. You certainly couldn't make a horror picture like this today but at the time WILLARD was released it became a huge hit. I really loved the low-key style of the picture and the fact that it spends the majority of its running time building up the lead character. Even though the viewer can tell that there's something wrong with Willard, we still feel sorry for him and want to see him win over his enemies.The screenplay gives us time to get to know and like the character but we're also treated to some great performances led by Davison. He really is wonderful here as he has a lot of details to the character and he pulls them off. Whether it's the nerd side of the character or the more broken down mental side, he nails everything perfectly. Sondra Locke is also extremely good in her supporting role as the love interest. Lanchester is always wonderful no matter what she does and that's true here as well. Then there's Borgnine who is terrific as the villain. He was a terrific character actor and he brings so much evilness to this character without making him campy or over-the-top. He's just the typical jerk that most of us know.WILLARD was eventually remade but it came nowhere near the level of quality as this original. The film manages to have an effective atmosphere throughout and there's just so much right with the picture that you can overlook what flaws are here.

dbdumonteil Well,not for me;the first version of "Willard " which I saw when it was theatrically released did not scare me at all.It's one of these very rare movies the remake of which is better.Crispin Glover is far superior to the nice Bruce Davison;the only actor that was really impressive was Ernst Borgnine ,but R. Lee Hermey is not chopped liver either particularly when he delivers his famous line about Mickey Mouse .The first version lacks humor (present in the remake ,the scene of the computer -and the mouse- when the villain watches dirty pictures is hilarious ),and is marred by bland sentimental scenes .Actually the nightmare begins when the film ends.The rest could be an average episode from an average sitcom.