Ben (film)

Last updated
Ben
Ben poster.JPG
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Phil Karlson
Written by Gilbert Ralston
Based onCharacters created
by Stephen Gilbert
Produced byMort Briskin
Starring Lee Montgomery
Joseph Campanella
Arthur O'Connell
Cinematography Russell Metty
Edited by Harry Gerstad
Music by Walter Scharf
Production
company
Distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • June 23, 1972 (1972-06-23)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.3 million [1]

Ben is a 1972 American horror film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Lee Montgomery, Joseph Campanella, and Arthur O'Connell. It is a sequel to the film Willard (1971). [2] The film follows a lonely boy named Danny Garrison who befriends Willard's former pet rat named Ben. Ben becomes the boy's best friend, protecting him from bullying and keeping his spirits up in the face of a heart condition. However, Ben forms an army of deadly rodents while the police attempt to control it.

Contents

The film premiered on June 21, 1972 in California and was given a wide release on June 23.

Ben was released on June 23, 1972 by Cinerama Releasing Corporation. Much like its predecessor, it was met with mixed reviews.

American singer Michael Jackson performs the theme song of the film, also titled "Ben". The song is also included on his 1972 album of the same name.

Plot

The movie begins with a recap of the ending of the first film where Willard Stiles is killed by his rats after he tries to kill them and Ben. Police arrive at the scene and find Willard dead. Two police officers stay at the Stiles house where one of them is attacked and killed by the rats while the other finds his body. A police detective named Clift Kirtland orders to have an exterminator to kill the rats, but Ben hears this and tells the other rats. Together, Ben and the other rats go into the sewer.

A lonely boy named Danny Garrison, who has a severe heart condition, lives with his sister, Eve, and his mother, Beth. Danny finds and befriends Ben while playing with marionettes in his workshed, and Ben becomes the boy's best friend. Later that day, Ben and the other rats attack a food truck, causing the driver to crash and kill another driver.

The next day, Danny plays on the piano a song he has created for Ben. Later that night, Ben and the other rats invade a grocery store for food and destroy the entire store. Police officers and detectives are now trying to kill the rats with poison and traps in the neighborhood, but Danny tells Ben about the traps set up by the police. Just then, a bully comes to make fun of Danny, but Ben and the other rats attack the bully by biting him in the legs. The bully gets scared and runs away. Danny thanks Ben and the rats for helping him with the bully. The bully comes back with his mother and the police. The police tell Danny they want to see Ben, so Danny brings them to the workshed and throws at them a marionette he made that looks like Ben. The police, with the bully and the bully's mother, leave the workshed.

However, things gradually take a downhill turn as Ben's colony becomes violent in its search for food, resulting in several deaths. Eventually, the police go into the sewers and kill the rats with flamethrowers and shotguns after trapping them there, but Ben somehow survives the slaughter and makes his way back to Danny, wounded but alive. A tearful and overjoyed Danny tends to the injured Ben, determined not to lose his best friend.

Cast

Music

Theme song

The film's theme song "Ben" is performed by Lee Montgomery in the film and by Michael Jackson during the final scene and end credits (Recording date: November 1971 with The Funk Brothers). Michael Jackson's recording of the song became a number 1 pop hit single in 1972. Later included as the title track on Michael Jackson's second solo album, Ben , [3] it won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (it lost to "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern from another 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure ).

The song is calm and mellow, which contrasts with the horror content of the film. A live recorded version was released on the album The Jacksons Live! (1981) and eventually appeared on Michael Jackson's album Number Ones (2003). [4]

Crispin Glover recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack of the 2003 remake of Willard. A music video for this version was produced, which also featured Glover.

Reception

Ben received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a rating of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews. [5]

Among the more positive reviews was that of Variety , which wrote that the film has the "same type of suspenseful action" as the original, and that Lee Montgomery "plays his part to perfection". [6] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 312 stars out of 4, and stated, "Ben succeeds as a horror show because it contains the requisite number of rat attacks with the camera holding on victims covered with perhaps two dozen, clinging, scratching, and biting rodents. Omigod, he's covered with rats. Eeeech! But Ben goes beyond mere thrills into the realm of solid drama because of the superb performance of Lee Harcourt Montgomery as Danny Garrison who befriends Ben, the leader of the rat pack terrorizing the city". [7] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "is equally scary and diverting as Willard while being more serious and ambitious". [8]

However, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 112 stars out of 4, writing: "This isn't a thriller but a geek movie. In a thriller, we're supposed to be scared by some awesome menace to mankind—the Green Blob maybe, or Big Foot, or the Invincible Squid and his implacable enemy, red wine sauce. But in a geek movie, the whole idea is to be disgusted because the actors have rats all over them". [9] Vincent Canby of The New York Times said: "The way in which you will respond to Ben will depend on a number of variables, including how you feel about the possibility of Los Angeles shutting down, trick photography, dreadful acting by a dreadful cast, the decline and fall of Phil Karlson ( The Phenix City Story ) as a director and a screenplay that never has the courage to acknowledge its comic impulses". [10] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post thought that the film is "not much of an improvement on Willard" and has "no standout horror sequences". [11] Leonard Maltin's film guide also gave the film a negative review, awarding it 112 out of 4 stars, and panning the film's gory visuals. [12]

The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in the following list:

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Toxic Avenger</i> (1984 film) 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman

The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film produced and directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman from a screenplay by Joe Ritter, based on a story by Kaufman. The film was produced and released by Troma Entertainment. It is the first installment in The Toxic Avenger film series and generated a media franchise.

<i>D.A.R.Y.L.</i> 1985 film by Simon Wincer

D.A.R.Y.L. is a 1985 science fiction adventure film directed by Simon Wincer and written by David Ambrose, Allan Scott, and Jeffrey Ellis. It stars Mary Beth Hurt, Michael McKean, Kathryn Walker, Colleen Camp, Josef Sommer, and Barret Oliver. It follows a seemingly normal young boy who turns out to be a top secret, military-created robot with superhuman abilities.

<i>Godsend</i> (2004 film) 2004 horror film by Nick Hamm

Godsend is a 2004 psychological horror thriller film starring Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn, and Robert De Niro, and directed by Nick Hamm from a screenplay by Mark Bomback. It follows a couple who are approached by an enigmatic doctor who offers to clone their deceased son. It received generally negative reviews from critics.

<i>Willard</i> (2003 film) 2003 American film

Willard is a 2003 American psychological horror film written and directed by Glen Morgan and starring Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey and Laura Elena Harring. It is loosely based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, as well as on the novel's first film adaptation, Willard (1971), and its sequel, Ben (1972). It was not billed as a remake by the producers, who chose instead to present it as a reworking of the themes from the original with a stronger focus on suspense.

<i>Willard</i> (1971 film) 1971 film by Daniel Mann

Willard is a 1971 American horror film directed by Daniel Mann and written by Gilbert Ralston, based on Stephen Gilbert's novel Ratman's Notebooks. Bruce Davison stars as social misfit Willard Stiles, who is squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father. His only friends are a couple of rats raised at home, including Ben and Socrates, and their increasing number of friends. When Socrates is killed by Willard's boss, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack.

Gilbert Alexander Ralston was a British-American screenwriter, journalist and author. He was a television producer in the 1950s and a screenwriter in the 1960s. He created the television series The Wild Wild West and wrote scripts for Star Trek, Gunsmoke, Ben Casey, I Spy, Hawaii Five-O and Naked City. He wrote the screenplay for the 1971 movie Willard, which was based on the 1968 novel Ratman's Notebooks written by Stephen Gilbert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben (song)</span> Song written by Don Black and composed by Walter Scharf

"Ben" is a song written by Don Black and Walter Scharf for the 1972 film of the same name. It was performed by Lee Montgomery in the film and by Michael Jackson over the closing credits. Jackson's single, recorded for the Motown label in 1972, spent one week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making it Jackson's first number one single in the US as a solo artist. Billboard ranked it as the number 20 song for 1972. It also reached number 1 on the ARIA Charts, spending eight weeks at the top spot. The song also later reached a peak of number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, the song appeared in The Ultimate Collection.

<i>Death Hunt</i> 1980 film by Peter R. Hunt

Death Hunt is a 1981 Western action film directed by Peter Hunt. The film stars Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Carl Weathers, Maury Chaykin, Ed Lauter and Andrew Stevens. Death Hunt was a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pursuit of a man named Albert Johnson. Earlier films exploring the same topic were The Mad Trapper (1972), a British made-for-television production and Challenge to Be Free (1975).

<i>Ratmans Notebooks</i> 1968 short novel

Ratman's Notebooks is a 1968 short horror novel by Stephen Gilbert. It features an unnamed social misfit who relates better to rats than to humans. It was the basis for the 1971 film Willard, its 1972 sequel Ben, and the 2003 remake of the original film. After the release of the original film, the book was re-released and re-titled Willard.

<i>The Hitman</i> 1991 film by Aaron Norris

The Hitman is a 1991 Canadian-American action film starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Aaron Norris and written by Don Carmody, Robert Geoffrion and Galen Thompson.

<i>The Food of the Gods</i> (film) 1976 science fiction thriller American film by Bert I. Gordon

H.G. Wells' The Food of the Gods, also billed as just The Food of the Gods, is a 1976 American-Canadian science fiction thriller film released by American International Pictures and was written, produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon. Starring Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Jon Cypher, and Ida Lupino, the film was loosely based on a portion of the 1904 H. G. Wells novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. The film reduced Wells' tale to an "nature revenge" plot, common in science fiction films of the time.

<i>Deadly Eyes</i> 1982 Canadian film

Deadly Eyes is a 1982 Canadian horror film directed by Robert Clouse, very loosely based on the 1974 horror novel The Rats by James Herbert. The story revolves around giant black rats who begin eating the residents of Toronto after ingesting contaminated grain.

<i>The Midnight Hour</i> 1985 American comedy horror film

The Midnight Hour is a 1985 American made-for-television comedy horror film directed by Jack Bender and starring Shari Belafonte-Harper, LeVar Burton, Peter DeLuise, and Dedee Pfeiffer. Its plot focuses on a small New England town that becomes overrun with zombies, witches, vampires, and all the other demons of hell after a group of teenagers unlocks a centuries-old curse on Halloween.

Elliott Harcourt Montgomery, known as Lee Montgomery, is a United States-based Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as a lonely little boy who befriends a pack of killer rats in the film Ben (1972), as Karen Black's son Davey in the cult classic Burnt Offerings, and as Sarah Jessica Parker's hunky dance partner, Jeff Malene, in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985).

<i>Fright</i> (film) 1971 British film by Peter Collinson

Fright is a 1971 British thriller film starring Susan George, Ian Bannen, Honor Blackman, and John Gregson. The film follows a babysitter who is terrorized one evening by her employer's deranged ex-husband. Its original working titles were The Baby Minder and Girl in the Dark before it was titled Fright. It is said by many horror fans and commentators to be one of or even the first film in which an isolated babysitter is stalked by an unrelenting and psychopathic antagonist, rendering it the forerunner of dozens of movies to use similar premises over the following decades.

<i>Tomorrow</i> (1972 film) 1972 film directed by Joseph Anthony

Tomorrow is a 1972 American drama film directed by Joseph Anthony and starring Robert Duvall. The screenplay was written by Horton Foote, adapted from a play he wrote for Playhouse 90 that was itself based on a 1940 short story by William Faulkner in the short story collection Knight's Gambit. The PG-rated film was filmed in the Mississippi counties of Alcorn and Itawamba. Although released in 1972, it saw limited runs in the U.S. until re-released about ten years later. Duvall has called the film one of his personal favorites.

<i>The Savage Is Loose</i> 1974 film directed by George C. Scott

The Savage Is Loose is a 1974 American drama film produced and directed by George C. Scott. It stars Scott, Trish Van Devere, John David Carson and Lee H. Montgomery.

<i>The Willies</i> (film) 1990 American film

The Willies is a 1990 American comedy horror anthology film, written and directed by Brian Peck. The film was shot in both California and Connecticut.

<i>Challenge to Be Free</i> 1975 film

Challenge to Be Free is an anti-hero film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Mike Mazurki. The film's plot was a loosely based on the 1931 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pursuit of a trapper named Albert Johnson, the reputed "Mad Trapper of Rat River". The film was shot and originally released in 1972 with the title Mad Trapper of the Yukon; it was re-released in 1975 as Challenge to Be Free.

<i>If It Bleeds</i> 2020 collection of four novellas by Stephen King

If It Bleeds is a collection of four previously unpublished novellas by American writer Stephen King. The stories in the collection are titled "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", "The Life of Chuck", "If It Bleeds", and "Rat". It was released on April 28, 2020.

References

  1. Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 295. ISBN   978-0-8357-1776-2. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  2. Canby, Vincent (June 24, 1972). "Ben (1972) Film: In 'Ben', a Boy Befriends a Rat". The New York Times . Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  3. Ben allmusic Retrieved 19 March 2024
  4. "Michael Jackson's latest CD sells better than expected - Nov. 27, 2003" . Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  5. "Ben". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  6. "Film Reviews: Ben". Variety . June 14, 1973. 24.
  7. Siskel, Gene (June 26, 1972). "'Ben...'" Chicago Tribune . Section 2, p. 13.
  8. Thomas, Kevin (June 23, 1972). "An Army of Rats in L.A." Los Angeles Times . Part IV, p. 8.
  9. Ebert, Roger (June 28, 1972). 'Ben'. Archived 2020-05-28 at the Wayback Machine RogerEbert.com Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  10. Canby, Vincent (June 24, 1972). "Film: In 'Ben', a Boy Befriends a Rat". Archived 2019-05-07 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times . 19.
  11. Arnold, Gary (June 27, 1972). "Eek! It's 'Ben'". The Washington Post . B9.
  12. Maltin, Leonard (September 2012). Leonard Maltin's 2013 Movie Guide. New York, New York: Penguin Press. p. 170. ISBN   978-0-451-23774-3.
  13. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2016-07-30.