Willard Collection

Horror

Thriller

Bing Crosby Productions

United States of America

English

Lee Montgomery

Joseph Campanella

Arthur O'Connell

Rosemary Murphy

Meredith Baxter

Kaz Garas

Paul Carr

Richard Van Vleet

Kenneth Tobey

James Luisi

Lee Paul

Norman Alden

Scott Garrett

Arlen Stuart

Ric Drasin

Frank Farmer

Bob Harks

Bern Hoffman

Kenner G. Kemp

John Rayner

Leoda Richards

Tom Steele

Hunter von Leer

Phil Karlson

Gilbert Ralston

Stephen Gilbert

Mort Briskin

Charles A. Pratt

Joel Briskin

Walter Scharf

Russell Metty

Harry Gerstad

Irving Lande

Rolland M. Brooks

Anthony Mondell

Ray Harp

Mina Mittelman

Hazel Washington

Jack H. Young

Bob Minor

Craig R. Baxley

Ed Shanley

Floyd Joyer

Moe Di Sesso

Earl C. Williman

Richard Borland

Bud David

William Wainess

Joan Eremin

Houseley Stevenson Jr.

James J. Klinger

Jack K. Tillar

Leon M. Leon

David Dockendorf

Malcolm McNab

Maury Foladare

Bing Crosby

CinemaSerf

I suppose if you are going to make an horror movie, then it’s hard to beat rats as the culprits. The young, imaginative, “Danny” (Lee Montgomery) is a bit of a gentle loner who makes friends with a rat he names “Ben”. He tells his sister all about his new friend, but “Eve” (Meredith Baxter) just assumes he is making him up. Then some odd things start to happen in their neighbourhood, and rumours start to abound that there is a swarm of rats marauding around attacking people. When a grocery store is trashed by these vandalising critters, the police step in and “Kirkland” (Joseph Campanella) has to try and make sense of events that simply don’t add up. The more he looks for the beasts the less he finds, and when one of the lads that bullies “Lee” is reputedly attacked, even that doesn’t shed any light on things. Despite repeated and exhaustive searches of the subterranean pipes, sewers and drains, there is nothing! How are the authorities going to get to the bottom of things? The acting and the dialogue are all pretty mundane, true, but the sights of rats clambering and crawling everywhere, and the idea that there could be one more intelligent co-ordinating their behaviour is a genuinely quite spooky one. Like an army of ants only bigger, hairier, and with bigger teeth! It rather runs out of steam towards the end, but for a while the busy photography and the tension from the score create quite an unsettling atmosphere that might make you check under the bed and lock the windows before you go to sleep at night. The Michael Jackson title song got an Oscar nomination, it was made by Bing Crosby Productions and it’s not as bad as I’d initially feared.

Ben (1972) - Official Trailer (HD)

Best Movies

Ben

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Lee Montgomery

Joseph Campanella

Arthur O'Connell

Rosemary Murphy

Meredith Baxter

Kaz Garas

Paul Carr

Richard Van Vleet

Kenneth Tobey

James Luisi

Box office

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