I remember a scene near the end of willard where he killed a bunch of rats because he thought he was finally getting his life together, but ben finds him, and gives the most hateful glare I've ever seen from a rat. I'd say that award was well earned
this is genuinely my favorite film ever. is it exceptionally good? no, but it’s a comfort movie and i love it for what it is. thank you for covering it
I finally watched the movie over the weekend and really liked it. Love how it’s more of a character study (as intended) and some of the humor lands pretty well
I remember when my niece was singing "Ben" along with the oldies station and would NOT believe me when I said it was about a rat, LOL. Rats do make lovely pets. They're very smart and very loyal.
if they weren't leaving little trails of urine everywhere they went they would be great fun,.. i hope you people clean A LOT,.. rats, mice, gerbils all rodents do this. But mostly rats
So, just one issue....you totally can train rats to about the same level as you can train dogs. I've seen rats trained to the point of the owner sneezing and the rats get her a tissue. Other tricks are going to the owners purse, opening the zipper, pulling out the wallet, opening it, pulling out a dollar bill and taking it to their owner. Rats can absolutely be trained if the trainer is even semi-competent!
5:53 Badly scarred? Sewers of New York? Controlling an army of rats? So basically this was supposed to be the origin story of Rat King from Ninja Turtles
@@ddivincenzo1194 The original Halloween also had palm trees despite taking place in Illinois. Also, the "scars and sewers of New York" part was referring to the proposed sequel.
This was edited, voiceovered, etc so well. Really great video. And my mind was so blown at 7:17 when a more up-to-date picture of Bruce Davison was shown. I didn't recognize him from his Willard role. Hilarious.
This is an old comment but I think they meant like, groups of rats. If it's one or two rats sure, but as the review mentioned it was "buckets of rats".
There's an episode of Batman Beyond that was similar to this. It was about a teenage boy that controlled giant mutant rats in the sewers. I think the writers of that episode took inspiration from Willard.
Thanks to TCM, I was able to watch Willard for the first time last week. I liked it. I had no idea that Willard was played by Senator Kelly from the X-Men movies.
The rats and mice I have been around like guinea pig pellets much more than peanut butter. You can indeed train rats, mice, and GPs. Food is key and you have to use positive reinforcement, NOT negative. The wrangler couldn't have been too great considering how much real bad stuff that happened in BEN.
I have to admit while love the original Willard, I honestly prefer the 2003 remake version. To me, Crispin Glover takes things to a whole new level, it's like he was born to play the role. Not to mention one of his books he made is called Rat Catching, first published in 1988. Is that foreshadowing or what? Normally I'm not a fan of remakes, but Crispin's performance is what makes the film so memorable to me.
Holy fudge. I was thinking, the entire time, Willard looked like the “old man” from x-men. That guy that’s been in a million things, but you don’t know his name. However, I doubted myself, then you popped up that recent picture of him and I about fainted. I love watching people age in the film business.
Yes, another example is Scott Wilson (Hershel from "The Walking Dead") - as a very young man he did the crime classic "In Cold Blood."" So weird to watch someone grow up/grow old in my lifetime!
I had rats as pets, our first was sox she was supposed to be food for or pac man frog, didn't eat her, so we bottle fed her she was a great pet, she and our cat harry got along, sox would groom harry, the ex wife got a male we had babies, the male we named Socrates and the son we named Ben all very smart and sweet
Dude, I love your videos so much. You deserve a much bigger following and a hell of a lot more views. Keep creating. You turned me onto crappy movies and it's been a pretty amazing side hobby.
Before it was Jaws with the line we're going to need a bigger boat it was Willard with the greatest line ever as kids we used to repeat it all the time and it was how he said tear him up and then he slammed the door that's the greatest scene ever.
I have a copy of 'The Ratmans Notebook' and its great. I haven't seen this version of Willard, but I have seen the remake, will have to add this one to my queue =)
Kidding me? Rats are easier to train then dogs. They got some rats that literally sniff out mines. My only complaint about them as pets is they only live 3-4 years.
Yes, they definitely can be trained. There is a TH-cam channel called “Shadow the rat”. Where she trained her rats to play basketball, and take money from her purse..lol. You are also correct. Regarding training rats, to find land mines. They are in Africa. They are called “Hero Rats”. The type of rats, are called Gambian Pouched Rats. They can also detect tuberculosis. Pretty amazing.
The thing is, training them after they are adults is more difficult and training hundreds is almost impossible in the time frame of making a movie. But individually they can be trained.
I'd say it's better to be a character actor because their career isn't handcuffed to boxoffice returns. The Loan Ranger hurt Armie Hammer but was just another role for William Fichtner. Critics often call him the best thing about a bad movie when he's in one.
I remember when I first saw Willard in theaters here in Philly when it came out during the 70's. I believe it was either the Fox or the Milgrim theaters on 16th and Market sts. I loved the movie back then and saw it when TCM was showing this and Ben together. It's such a great horror movie about social misfit and how he becomes unhinged. #OldSchoolHorror
Good review. But Bruce Davidson was born in 1946, and had to be around 24 years old during shooting. After 'Last Summer' he had also starred in Stuart Hagmann's 'The Strawberry Statement' (1970) ...
Been rockin Cybershaman for over 20 years now. But, now that there are a few more of them out there, I adopted the "X" at the end to help my fragile ego feel more special. :P ;)
4:30 Sam Peckinpah flashbacks, most likely. There was a story that for one fight scene, Sam got the actors so drunk that they had a real fight, and shot it. Oh, and about The Wild Bunch, Peckinpah had no interest in animal safety. He even went as far as filming in Mexico, where there were no cruelty laws.
This was only a little bit weirder choice for Bing Crosby Productions than Walking Tall, which also came as a shock to me when I saw the name of the production company.
Good info. Though it's entirely untrue you can't train rats! I've had them as pets and they can learn tricks in a matter of hours sometimes! Come when called, fetch, give a paw, spin, jump from one thing to another on command climb on command etc. They are actually as easy to train as dogs if you just use clicker training! Though I wonder if the real problem was the number of rats on set training 2-3 in one go is easy but probably not hundreds!
YESSSSS!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing an 'Exploring' on this! It's a personal favourite of mine since I was 10. You're a legend and a hero for doing this series. Could you please do a video on 'Martin' at some stage in the future, perhaps?
I loved this movie as a kid and now I know why I've not been able to watch it for the past 40 years. I also was unaware of the remake so now I'll have to go watch it.
One of the most successful films of the year and yet you never see it today. I have never understood that until now, though I was totally creeped out when my boyfriend took me to see it at a college art house theater in the late 1970s.
Bluebuttonfly Yeah, you totally can with patience and food. However, they are a bitch to train if allowed to grow to adult first. I suspect that's why it was so tough. If you don't get them young and socialized, it's extremely difficult.
Do a review of Roger Corman's Carnosaur (1993) Roland Emmerich's Godzilla (1998) Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005) or Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)!
Didn't the writer of the novel also write the screenplay as well as the pilot episode of The Wild Wild West? Speaking of Bing Crosby Productions, any chance of your doing videos on The Reincarnation of Peter Proud or The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler?
I wonder what the copyright life term was at the time of filming, and if it would have ended up in the public domain by now if not for all the extensions. Maybe I'll google it.
damn. i have only seen the remake, which i did not mind. but i certainly would like to see the original. thanks for bringing this up. i still would have thought that the remake was just a simple horror movie, without knowing it was a remake.
As a boy I read the book "Willard" and was enthralled. I assume it was the novel, renamed. Either that or an adaptation of the film, I'm curious which. This was before I saw the movie and I had assumed the book came first.
I remember a scene near the end of willard where he killed a bunch of rats because he thought he was finally getting his life together, but ben finds him, and gives the most hateful glare I've ever seen from a rat. I'd say that award was well earned
this is genuinely my favorite film ever. is it exceptionally good? no, but it’s a comfort movie and i love it for what it is. thank you for covering it
That line “You made me hate myself. Well I like myself now!” could easily be fit in The Joker.
I love when he screams "TEAR EM UP!!!"
I finally watched the movie over the weekend and really liked it. Love how it’s more of a character study (as intended) and some of the humor lands pretty well
I love that the actor actually became friends with "Ben".
God bless Scream Factory, really. They are the saviors of so many great cult classics.
Cyril I agree
their other branch shout factory too I'm very thankful to them for getting reboot a dvd boxset for the whole series as one didn't exist before
I remember when my niece was singing "Ben" along with the oldies station and would NOT believe me when I said it was about a rat, LOL.
Rats do make lovely pets. They're very smart and very loyal.
Incanticle 666 will you train them to tear your enemies apart?
xingcat i have had rats as pets true they are smart and gentle i know the rat wrangler for this film. i have had my 5 year old play with the rats
I’ve had a couple rats as pets, they’re very entertaining and have lots of character.
if they weren't leaving little trails of urine everywhere they went they would be great fun,.. i hope you people clean A LOT,.. rats, mice, gerbils all rodents do this. But mostly rats
@@dr.decker3623 Just put them in a cage. I have never heard of someone just letting a rat roam loose in their house.
Love the quote " dumped buckets of rats on him it didn't hurt it just felt weird" hilarious bro my teenage daughter loved this episode
So, just one issue....you totally can train rats to about the same level as you can train dogs.
I've seen rats trained to the point of the owner sneezing and the rats get her a tissue. Other tricks are going to the owners purse, opening the zipper, pulling out the wallet, opening it, pulling out a dollar bill and taking it to their owner.
Rats can absolutely be trained if the trainer is even semi-competent!
"And Borgnine is fantastic."
No further words are necessary
He was truly legendary
Still is. You think a little thing like dreath with keep him down? 'Tis but a flesh wound
I loved him in The Poseidon Adventure.
I saw a bit of this as a child and always wanted to watch it again. But could never remember the name
5:53 Badly scarred? Sewers of New York? Controlling an army of rats? So basically this was supposed to be the origin story of Rat King from Ninja Turtles
Otaking Mikohani My life with the king of rats: a touching melodrama by April O' neal and Victor Falco
The back of Rat King's 80s toy box says "Willard" is his favorite movie
Reminds me of ratcatcher from DC comics
The movie had palm trees, so it was not New York. Hollywood was mentioned once, too. I would guess this is L.A.
@@ddivincenzo1194 The original Halloween also had palm trees despite taking place in Illinois. Also, the "scars and sewers of New York" part was referring to the proposed sequel.
I loved Willard... Once again my parents took us to see it at the drive in when I was little.. Thank God for cool parents
Only ever saw the 2003 version with Crispin Glover, had no idea it was a remake until now.
Me neither.
Same
I like this one best
You co-star likes you! You got the part!
Yeah, Raiterio Patterson. WTF?
Superb loved it!
This was edited, voiceovered, etc so well. Really great video. And my mind was so blown at 7:17 when a more up-to-date picture of Bruce Davison was shown. I didn't recognize him from his Willard role. Hilarious.
Me too! My head literally snapped back from surprise.
You can train rats, I have 2 myself and are very intelligent. One even comes to its name being called... Im rat man!
Willard?
They learn the sound of their name being called and go towards it because it means food.
False ^^^^ I have 6 and they come every time and only get fed once a day
This is an old comment but I think they meant like, groups of rats. If it's one or two rats sure, but as the review mentioned it was "buckets of rats".
@@StrazdasLT what do you think dogs do? lmao
As someone with 8 rats i love this movie
There's an episode of Batman Beyond that was similar to this. It was about a teenage boy that controlled giant mutant rats in the sewers. I think the writers of that episode took inspiration from Willard.
Aw man, I was hoping that this was an exploration of the Willard movie from 2003.
TCM just showed Willard and Ben back to back.
Edwin Sherman Darn, I just missed it. At least I had Eyes Without a Face set up to record.
Cool. That just came on? DANG, I missed it.
The tear em up double feature!
Ben is great but I cannot fucking stand the kid he is so annoying and has an extremely punchable face and attitude.
Thanks to TCM, I was able to watch Willard for the first time last week. I liked it. I had no idea that Willard was played by Senator Kelly from the X-Men movies.
You made me hate myself...but now I like myself...tear em up !
Wasn't Bruce Davison a hunk in this movie
I loved the remake and the original was great, its rare that both original and remake hold up so well.
I could've seen EC Comics writing this back in the 1950s. It really has that feeling of a Tales from The Crypt or Vault or Horror Comic.
The remake with Crispin Glover is probably one of the best remakes out there. Both are great films.
the crispin glover remake was great in my opinion I would have loved for them to make a sequel
I have to admit I find the imagine of a furious Ernest Borgnine swinging a metal poll at me both terrifying and funny.
Was he acting a bit EVIIIIIL!
The rats and mice I have been around like guinea pig pellets much more than peanut butter. You can indeed train rats, mice, and GPs. Food is key and you have to use positive reinforcement, NOT negative. The wrangler couldn't have been too great considering how much real bad stuff that happened in BEN.
I have to admit while love the original Willard, I honestly prefer the 2003 remake version. To me, Crispin Glover takes things to a whole new level, it's like he was born to play the role. Not to mention one of his books he made is called Rat Catching, first published in 1988. Is that foreshadowing or what? Normally I'm not a fan of remakes, but Crispin's performance is what makes the film so memorable to me.
Holy fudge. I was thinking, the entire time, Willard looked like the “old man” from x-men. That guy that’s been in a million things, but you don’t know his name. However, I doubted myself, then you popped up that recent picture of him and I about fainted. I love watching people age in the film business.
Yes, another example is Scott Wilson (Hershel from "The Walking Dead") - as a very young man he did the crime classic "In Cold Blood."" So weird to watch someone grow up/grow old in my lifetime!
Sweet zombie Jesus. Ratboy. I remember that! Left on its own, that file would never have resurfaced from the archives. Thanks!
My mother was the one who originally told me about Willard. She said she loved the film (and Ben I believe).
Loved this movie as a kid! Great background information in this. Great job!
I had rats as pets, our first was sox she was supposed to be food for or pac man frog, didn't eat her, so we bottle fed her she was a great pet, she and our cat harry got along, sox would groom harry, the ex wife got a male we had babies, the male we named Socrates and the son we named Ben all very smart and sweet
Dude, I love your videos so much. You deserve a much bigger following and a hell of a lot more views. Keep creating. You turned me onto crappy movies and it's been a pretty amazing side hobby.
Didn't know there was a Willard back in 1971. Just seen the Crispin Glover one.
That mansion is where the TV show "Charmed" was filmed and made as well, I believe.
You CAN train rats its pretty easy considering you reward them every time with a treat
Before it was Jaws with the line we're going to need a bigger boat it was Willard with the greatest line ever as kids we used to repeat it all the time and it was how he said tear him up and then he slammed the door that's the greatest scene ever.
One of Ernest Borgnine's grandchildren is stationed on the same ship I am.
love every incarnation of this film crispin glover was great in this
I have a copy of 'The Ratmans Notebook' and its great. I haven't seen this version of Willard, but I have seen the remake, will have to add this one to my queue =)
Kidding me? Rats are easier to train then dogs. They got some rats that literally sniff out mines. My only complaint about them as pets is they only live 3-4 years.
Yes, they definitely can be trained. There is a TH-cam channel called “Shadow the rat”. Where she trained her rats to play basketball, and take money from her purse..lol.
You are also correct. Regarding training rats, to find land mines. They are in Africa. They are called “Hero Rats”. The type of rats, are called Gambian Pouched Rats. They can also detect tuberculosis. Pretty amazing.
The thing is, training them after they are adults is more difficult and training hundreds is almost impossible in the time frame of making a movie. But individually they can be trained.
Rats are little sweeties.
My aunt had one who just passed & she was a spoiled little girl
I loved the remake with McFly!!! Such a great movie!
Sandra Lockhart was also in Rat Boy .
Sometimes it's not so bad to be a character actor. Kinda the "In case of dying career, break glass" for most leading actors and actresses.
I'd say it's better to be a character actor because their career isn't handcuffed to boxoffice returns. The Loan Ranger hurt Armie Hammer but was just another role for William Fichtner. Critics often call him the best thing about a bad movie when he's in one.
Well thats because William Fichtner is one of the best actors out there, so any bad movie hes in he would definitelly be the best thing in it.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque The Loan Ranger? I'd be down for that movie.
The idea of a sequal where Willard lives in the sewers would have been aweseome!
OH you better not let anything happen to that kitten, or the internet will HATE you FOREVER... - Cecil (The Fly 2)
I remember when I first saw Willard in theaters here in Philly when it came out during the 70's. I believe it was either the Fox or the Milgrim theaters on 16th and Market sts. I loved the movie back then and saw it when TCM was showing this and Ben together. It's such a great horror movie about social misfit and how he becomes unhinged. #OldSchoolHorror
What are your thoughts on the remake? From what I've heard, it's a very underappreciated horror film, and Crispin Glover is excellent.
I loved it. Felt unique.
Crispin Glover did great. Speaking of weird character actors..!
I liked the remake.
I'd like to see a remake of Terminator, played by Crispin Glover.
If it was a T-1000 esque role, I could see it.
Good review. But Bruce Davidson was born in 1946, and had to be around 24 years old during shooting. After 'Last Summer' he had also starred in Stuart Hagmann's 'The Strawberry Statement' (1970) ...
A Ghost Story review/exploring would be absolutely top
Peanut butter. Is there anything that it _can't_ do? ;)
Cool username
Been rockin Cybershaman for over 20 years now. But, now that there are a few more of them out there, I adopted the "X" at the end to help my fragile ego feel more special. :P ;)
I like this movie. I really liked the remake as well. Glover's a odd dude and it worked so well in the role.
4:30 Sam Peckinpah flashbacks, most likely. There was a story that for one fight scene, Sam got the actors so drunk that they had a real fight, and shot it. Oh, and about The Wild Bunch, Peckinpah had no interest in animal safety. He even went as far as filming in Mexico, where there were no cruelty laws.
I loved the remake. Glover was so great in that role.
This was only a little bit weirder choice for Bing Crosby Productions than Walking Tall, which also came as a shock to me when I saw the name of the production company.
Good info. Though it's entirely untrue you can't train rats! I've had them as pets and they can learn tricks in a matter of hours sometimes! Come when called, fetch, give a paw, spin, jump from one thing to another on command climb on command etc. They are actually as easy to train as dogs if you just use clicker training! Though I wonder if the real problem was the number of rats on set training 2-3 in one go is easy but probably not hundreds!
Rats can be trained temporarely, but forget it in a matter of a few weeks unless the action is repeated.
I liked the remake. Glad to learn I now have the opportunity to see the original.
Michael Jackson would have been proud for "Ben"...
😱😂🤣😬🤠
I remember seeing Willard remake and it was kind of empowering for me for some reason
It's funny you bring up that no cats die in this one. They certainly killed a cat in the Crispin Glover one lol
Those bunch of bitches
Lavern Merriweather -Rats revenge. For all the rats and mice, killed by cats.
Like both this an the reboot along with the sequel to the first Ben
You absolutely can train rats I have 6
YESSSSS!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing an 'Exploring' on this! It's a personal favourite of mine since I was 10. You're a legend and a hero for doing this series. Could you please do a video on 'Martin' at some stage in the future, perhaps?
I loved this movie as a kid and now I know why I've not been able to watch it for the past 40 years. I also was unaware of the remake so now I'll have to go watch it.
:30 GOD DAMN that's creepy! I want that in poster size hanging on my wall. Thanks I have a purchase to figure out.
One of the most successful films of the year and yet you never see it today. I have never understood that until now, though I was totally creeped out when my boyfriend took me to see it at a college art house theater in the late 1970s.
This is weird. You can absolutely train rats. I have trained rats. Maybe not that many, maybe not in time, but they can be trained.
Bluebuttonfly Yeah, you totally can with patience and food. However, they are a bitch to train if allowed to grow to adult first. I suspect that's why it was so tough. If you don't get them young and socialized, it's extremely difficult.
People might not have realized that at the time.
Willard, is that you?
You can train rats
I always reference this movie but no one ever gets it. I always thought it was a weird movie so maybe that's why no one knows Wtf I'm talking about.
Rats are so smart.
The cat wasn't so lucky in the remake.
When Cecil uploads a new video, I'm all smiles for the rest of the day.
The cat doesn't die. Nice
After showing the poster, you need to do a video on Night of the Lepus. Most ridiculous horror movie ever, but I love it.
Another great exploring video!
Do a review of Roger Corman's Carnosaur (1993) Roland Emmerich's Godzilla (1998) Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005) or Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)!
CubanPete1990 would you like some coffee too?
I Am Groot
God save the cats!
Who knew rats liked peanut butter so much... we'll, it is pretty good
I don't know if I suggested this before, but I'd love to see Exploring Freeway.
I have strangely learned a great deal about rats while watching this channel lol they can't be trained and love peanut butter...ha ha!
Also they are so smart and teachable that they use them to detect old land mines for removal (don't worry, they are too light to set off the trigger).
Was expecting you to touch on the remake a bit. Perhaps a future video?
... Or a past video I don't know about.
Huh, did not know Jaws was the result of this movie.
Didn't the writer of the novel also write the screenplay as well as the pilot episode of The Wild Wild West? Speaking of Bing Crosby Productions, any chance of your doing videos on The Reincarnation of Peter Proud or The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler?
Amazing! Dude I love your exploring series. You gotta do one for Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon - super underrated horror gem imo
only seen the remake which i love alot and have seen a lot. knew it was a remake and now finally have a chance to check it out.
Finally! I love this film!
"you can't train rats"... I dunno about that. Pretty sure you can. Maybe just not a giant swarm of them
I love the Batman Beyond episode based on this movie.
I wonder what the copyright life term was at the time of filming, and if it would have ended up in the public domain by now if not for all the extensions. Maybe I'll google it.
damn. i have only seen the remake, which i did not mind. but i certainly would like to see the original. thanks for bringing this up. i still would have thought that the remake was just a simple horror movie, without knowing it was a remake.
Watched both Willards and Ben for the first time this year. I prefer the older Willard, but all are great.
I hope next week is "MONSTER SQUAD"
Cecil, have you seen "Petticoat Planet" and Lynette Walden's "The Silencer?" They would be great entries on GBF.
god i missed your old school reviews
You can too train rats!
As a boy I read the book "Willard" and was enthralled. I assume it was the novel, renamed. Either that or an adaptation of the film, I'm curious which. This was before I saw the movie and I had assumed the book came first.
Rats are truly terrifying