Willard Stiles, overlooked geek icon.
As geeky characters in film go, Willard Stiles is a too often overlooked role model.
What makes him a Geek is not a love of comic books or science fiction, but his personality.
Hes a loner, socially awkward, withdrawn, maladjusted and misunderstood.
It was Willard and notCatcher in the Rye, where we finally came to recognize our own alienation.
Most important of all, though, was Bruce Davison.
Throughout the film, Willard only relaxes when hes with the rats.
He and his mother both, however, dismiss any suggestion that they should sell the place.
Their fathers left the scene awhile back, leaving them alone with their shrill and domineering mothers.
When their mothers die, they compensate in some fairly unconventional ways.
And when they finally find a girl, that post-mother compensation gets in the way.
He gives her a little food and the next day a few more rats show up.
Instead of following his mothers orders to kill the rats Willard begins to train them.
Things dont get any easier at work, for some reason.
Borgnines is another performance worth noting here.
And when he shows up at Martins door with an army of rats, well, were with him.
Or I am, anyway.
When that sting in the music hits and Willard screams, Tear him up!
I always want to cheer.
That, too, marks another connection between Norman Bates and Willard.
But when were watching the film we cant but help to identify with them.
In Psycho the turning point comes when Normans sinking the car in the swamp after the first murder.
From that point on were on his side.
Who hasnt wanted to run away from a birthday party?
Sadly, in both cases, Normans and Willards obsessions get the best of them in the end.
It was inevitable, I guess.
As inevitable as the sequels and remakes that would follow.
Unfortunately I never identified with Montgomery the way I did with Davisons Willard.
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