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Best of DVDs...with M.V. Moorhead
Willard

Halloween is upon us, that time of year when many of us like to remember the little things we take for granted--little things like snakes, spiders, bats and...rats.

Rats have been symbols of evil power in movies at least since Dracula in 1931, when Dwight Frye’s deranged Renfield raved that the Count had promised him millions of the little rodents in return for homage.

But the most famous rat films, probably, are 1971 ‘s Willard and its 1972 sequel Ben. In the former, a lonely, put-upon Mama’s boy becomes the general of an army of vermin, with which he takes revenge upon his tyrannical boss.

Eventually, however, his fuzzy enforcers become disillusioned with their disloyal leader, and the worm turns against the worm that turned.

The sequel, in which Willard’s alpha rat Ben survives to befriend a sick little boy (Lee Montgomery), is now best remembered for Michael Jackson’s sappy (but Oscar-nominated) title song.

The original Willard, played by fresh-faced Bruce Davison, was a sweet psycho in the Norman Bates vein. The makers of the new Willard have, as they say in showbiz, gone another way—here the role is played by freako king Crispin Glover, as a jittery, pale wreck in a dark suit and narrow tie appropriate to a member of the, er, Rat Pack.

The director, veteran X-Files writer Glen Morgan, appears to have told his star that all bets were off.

Glover goes back to the Dwight Frye School—he spends most of his footage glowering, seething or weeping, but occasionally flying into very authentic-sounding fits of shrieking or pleading. It’s not the sort of acting you see every day, and it can’t be called subtle, but it’s riveting.

His style fits perfectly with Morgan’s directorial approach. This Willard, which Morgan treats as a sort of campy black-comedy fable, is a far more elegant piece of movie craft than the original, with a fine self-conscious gothic look and a rickety, Danny Elfman-ish score by Shirley Walker.

A word should also be said for Glover’s costars—not just R. Lee Ermey as the awful boss or Jackie Burroughs as the invalid mother or Laura Elana Herring as the beautiful and sympathetic coworker, but also the rats with whom the star shares his most heartfelt moments.

They’re truly impressive creatures, particularly the enormous Gambian Giant Pouched Rat that plays Ben. With Ben’s  soulful, slightly thuggish face, he’s rather reminiscent of Brando in On the Waterfront.

Alas, it was reportedly a member of his species that brought Monkeypox to the U.S.—I hope it doesn’t create a backlash against Gambian Giant Pouched Rats.

This Willard runs out of steam about 20 minutes before it’s over, and its final scenes misfire badly. But then, over the end credits, we’re made amends: We get to hear “Ben,” (music by Walter Scharf, lyrics by Don Black) this time crooned not by the Future King of Pop but by Glover. Do you really want to miss that?

The DVD: If not, then you’re in luck with the DVD edition, because it includes Glover’s dulcet interpretation of “Ben” not only over the end titles, but in a truly freaky music video directed by none other than Glover himself.

This trick-or-treat packed disc also includes widescreen and fullscreen versions of the film, and a genuinely entertaining commentary track by director Morgan, producer James Wong, costar Lee Ermey and star Glover, who boasts a lot about how the tears—and other bodily secretions—he sheds in the film are real. There are a couple of amusing documentaries, and lots of deleted or alternate scenes, including a much shorter, and much better, ending.

Willard got a lenient PG-13, but it’s not for younger kids, though what would likely upset them most is not what the rats do but what is done to the poor things by the humans.

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