Willard (1971 film)

Willard
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Daniel Mann
Produced by	Charles A. Pratt Mort Briskin
Written by	Gilbert Ralston
Starring	Bruce Davison Elsa Lanchester Ernest Borgnine Sondra Locke
Music by	Alex North
Cinematography	Robert B. Hauser
Edited by	Warren Low
Production company	Bing Crosby Productions (Rysher Entertainment)
Distributed by	Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Release date	June 18, 1971 (1971-06-18)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$14,545,941

Willard is a 1971 American horror film directed by Daniel Mann and starring Bruce Davison and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, the film was nominated for an Edgar Award for best picture. The supporting cast included Elsa Lanchester in one of her last performances, and Sondra Locke in one of her first. The film was a summer hit in 1971; opening to good reviews and high box office returns. It inspired other horror films with wild animals as predators, such as the hit films Jaws (1975), as well as psychological thrillers with social outcasts as the protagonists, such as Carrie (1976).

Willard is a meek social misfit who later develops a strange affinity for rats. He lives in a large Victorian home, with only his cranky and decrepit mother for company. On his 27th birthday, he is humiliated to come home to a birthday party thrown by his mother, where all of the attendees are her own aging friends. After having left the party in embarrassment, he notices a rat in his backyard and tosses it pieces of his birthday cake. Later, his mother gets upset with him for leaving the party and she scolds him while also discussing how badly the house is falling apart. The next morning he goes out and feeds another rat (this one has babies with it) while imitating their squeaks. His mother starts telling him that he needs to kill the rats that have been running around their yard, which Willard refuses to do.

When Willard goes to work he is promptly scolded by his boss Al Martin for tardiness and no attempt to get assignments done on time. Later he returns home and sets about killing the rats as his mother ordered. He puts food on a center rock in a large well, placing a wooden plank to act as a bridge for the rats. When the rats have gathered on the rock, he removes the plank, trapping the rats. He then turns on the water, intending to let the well fill up and drown the animals. However, his guilt will not allow Willard to carry through the plan, and he turns off the water and returns the plank to its place, allowing the rats to escape. When his mother asks if he killed the rats, he lies and tells her he did.