Ben (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Ben |
| Original title | Ben |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1972 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Phil Karlson |
| script | Gilbert Ralston for Bing Crosby Productions |
| production | Mort Briskin |
| music | Walter Scharf |
| camera | Russell Metty |
| cut | Harry Gerstad |
| occupation | |
| |
Ben is a 1971 American horror film directed by Phil Karlson, starring Lee Harcourt Montgomery and a rat in the title role. The film is the sequel to Willard , which was made the previous year .
action
Under Ben's leadership, the rats kill their human master and master Willard after he tried to poison them, and they go into hiding. Willard's tattered body is discovered and a concerned crowd gathers around his Los Angeles home. Police Detective Cliff Kirtland and his assistant Joe Greer lead the investigation into Willard's gruesome death. You can find Willard's diary describing his friendship with Socrates, another rat, and Ben. One thinks it better not to publish the diary at the moment, because there Willard describes how he trained the rats to kill his boss, Billy Hatfield, who was bullying him. Ben, who is watching the men from a hiding place, has instructed his "family" to hide in the walls of the old mansion. Police officers Kelly and Reade guard the house while the police wait for officers from the health department. Reade goes to the basement where Willard trained his animal helpers. Because not a single rat can be seen anymore, Reade concludes that the animals are hiding behind the walls. When he rips out a panel, Ben instructs his buddies to kill the policeman. Kelly is late to help his partner, and after examining the human remains, Kirtland gives Willard's diary to Billy Hatfield.
Eve Garrison and her younger brother Danny, who is suffering from a very dangerous heart condition, spend the following day together as usual. Since her father's death, Eve has stayed home mostly to take care of Danny while her mother Beth struggles to run the family business. In his own little world, a building near the house, Danny plays with his beloved puppets. As he starts his lunch, Ben approaches him through a hole. Danny is surprised and likes to share his sandwich with the clever rat. Danny, tired of being alone for ever, is happy about the presence of this animal companion, because the rodent obviously understands him when Danny speaks to him. The following night, Ben leads the rats to raid a delivery truck with food. The driver is so frightened that he collides with an oncoming car. The next day, a police officer informs the Garrisons that the pest control officers requested by the health authorities will come into the neighborhood the next morning to set traps and spread rat poison. Danny tells his sister and mother about his new friend, the rat. Eve thinks her brother has too much imagination. But it also does not rule out that it may be precisely the rat that Willard mentioned in his diary, which has since been published in the newspaper. It also mentions the name of the rat: Ben.
Danny likes the name, and he will also call his new four-legged friend Ben without knowing that it is actually Ben. That evening Danny composes a song about his friendship with Ben. Eve is very touched by the lines of the song. A little later, Ben and his army of thousands of rats raid a supermarket. She eats everything there until she is discovered by a night watchman. Ben leads his followers into the sewers, where they set up their new home in a huge, disused room. It can only be reached via an abandoned tunnel. During the day, Ben visits Danny's workshop again, where Danny puts on a show for him with a rat puppet. Danny's relationship with Ben is getting closer and closer, and the boy, who suspects that Ben is the leader of the rat army, tells him that after the supermarket robbery he should be more careful in the future so as not to fall into the clutches of the pest controllers. After Danny performs Ben's song (sung by Michael Jackson) on his harmonica, Danny shows his furry friend the scar from his heart surgery. Danny watches as the pest controllers lay traps and poison around the Garrison house. In order to instruct Ben what danger the traps pose, he demonstrates their effect and makes it clear to him that they have to be avoided. When a bigger and stronger boy starts bullying Danny, Ben and his disciples attack the boy and bite him in the leg until he runs away. Danny will later claim to Kirtland that the boy sustained his injuries falling into a rose bush.
When Danny mentions the name Ben, the adults prick up their ears. But he can make up for his blabbering by taking out his rat puppet and declaring that it is his friend Ben, whom he was talking about. Back in the office, Kirtland and his subordinate Greer talk to a city engineer. He claims that more than two hundred miles of sewers have been searched without any results and that it will take several days to complete the sewer inspection. Urges Kirtland to continue work. Meanwhile, Ben and his army break into a cheese shop next to a wellness center and scare all guests who want to lose a few pounds here. The next day, Danny asks Ben to show him where he and his rat friends live. Danny follows Ben through the sewers and ends up in a room with thousands of rats. Although the animals' first instincts almost make them attack Danny, Ben's authority keeps them from attacking. Danny has difficulty breathing and returns home. He hears on the radio that the police want to expand the rat extermination operation, and when Ben and some of his friends appear at the window, Danny hides them in his bed. When Eva takes a quick look in his room to see if everything is okay with her heart-sick brother, she is shocked to discover that rats are scattered all over his bed. Mother Beth immediately informs the police officers Kirtland and Greer.
Danny stubbornly refuses to reveal Ben's whereabouts when questioned. Kirtland is now beginning to intensify the search for the rats in the sewers. When two workers in the sewer system get too close to Ben's hiding place, he orders his followers to kill them. Nevertheless, one of the two men managed to escape. Shortly afterwards, construction workers, police officers and firefighters, led by Kirtland and Greer, crowd in front of the sewer entrance. One tries to drown the rats with a sophisticated plan. Danny rushes outside to find and warn his friend Ben. He slips through a drain into the rat hiding place. Eve, looking for Danny, follows him. Danny tracks Ben down and asks him to flee immediately. But Ben makes it clear to Danny that he should get himself to safety. Then Eve finds her little brother. Both climb back into the daylight while Ben's rat army fight the human attackers underground. While the workers flee, Kirtland and Greer go downstairs to assess the situation. With combined forces, almost all rats are destroyed. Danny returns to his little hiding place deeply saddened when he hears a low squeak. He sees the wounded Ben who managed to escape the carnage. Overjoyed, Danny takes care of his four-legged friend and promises to take good care of him in the future.
Production notes and prices
Filming of Ben began on November 15, 1971 and ended in the middle of the following month. The world premiere took place in Los Angeles on June 21, 1972, the German premiere took place on October 20, 1972.
Charles A. Pratt took over the production management, Joel Briskin was the production manager. Rolland M. Brooks designed the film structures, Antony Mondello provided the equipment. Ray Harp and Mina Mittelman were responsible for the costumes.
Camera veteran Russell Metty ended his cinema career shortly thereafter.
music
The theme song "Ben", composed by Walter Scharf and texted by Don Black , is performed by the main actor Montgomery in the middle of the film, while the then 13-year-old Michael Jackson sings it again at the end. Jackson's version was a top hit in 1972 and was number 1 in the pop charts. Jackson's second solo album was also called Ben and of course also included this song. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was also nominated for an Oscar .
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Danny Garrison | Lee Harcourt Montgomery | Eva Mattes |
| Police Detective Kirtland | Joseph Campanella | KE Ludwig |
| Billy Hatfield | Arthur O'Connell | Ernst Kuhr |
| Beth Garrison | Rosemary Murphy | Ingeborg Lapsien |
| Joe Greer | Kaz Garas | Klaus Kindler |
| Kelly | Paul Carr | Fred Klaus |
| engineer | Kenneth Tobey | Werner Heyking |
| police officer | Norman Alden | Bruno W. Pantel |
Reviews
Roger Ebert said in the Chicago Sun-Times : “This is not a thriller, but a film for idiots. In a thriller, we're supposed to be scared of an awesome threat to humanity - the Green Blob, perhaps, or the Big Foot, or the invincible squid and its relentless enemy, the red wine sauce. But in an idiot film there is only one idea, namely to be disgusted because the actors are covered over and over by rats. "
His colleague Vincent Canby of the New York Times was similarly disappointed: “The way you will react to 'Ben' depends on a number of variables, including how you feel about the possibility of shutdown of Los Angeles, the trick photography, terrible acting thanks to a terrible cast, the decline of Phil Karlson ('The Phenix City Story') as a director and the script that never dares to recognize its comic impulses. "
The journal Variety judged more mildly and located in Ben compared to Willard "the same kind of exciting action" and found that lead actor Lee Montgomery "plays his role to perfection".
The lexicon of international films found: "Conceived as a continuation of 'Willard', the low-tension film exhausts itself without any meaning in naive horror."
The Movie & Video Guide said "that the superfluous bloodthirsty effects would make the film so bad".
Halliwell's Film Guide stated, "Production and development are quite a routine."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ben in the German dubbing file .
- ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, June 27, 1972.
- ^ Review in the New York Times of June 24, 1972.
- ↑ Variety, June 14, 1973 issue, p. 24.
- ↑ Ben. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 27, 2020 .
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 98.
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 91.
Web links
- Ben in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ben in the American Film Institute catalog