If I remember correctly, Ben was a sequel to Willard. I saw Willard at the theater, but I don't think I ever got around to Ben. In Willard, the title character is a loner who befriends rats, and eventually uses them to get revenge on the man who had taken his father's company, fired him and was trying to get his house. When Willard has a change of heart about having rats as friends -- he's on the verge of having a girlfriend! -- one of them (Ben) leads the others against Willard. Since you know the name of the sequel, it's no spoiler to guess who won.
JD DeLuzio > Jeff of Earth-JJune 10, 2026 at 2:19pm
I reviewed it just now. Although I rewatched Willard after reading the novel a few years ago (The Ratman's Notebooks), I hadn't seen Ben since I was a kid. Michael Jackson sings the theme song over the end credits, but it's actually the kid singing in the movie, and not unrealistically well, let us say. We see him making up the song and then later singing it to his mom.
Scene from film:
Someone's video of film clips and the Michael Jackson version:
I've seen Michael, the biopic, but not this documentary; on the other hand, my son has seen this documentary but not the biopic. I'm not in a rush to see this documentary because I pretty much know what it tells us; my son is not in a rush to see the biopic because it isn't out on a streaming service and he wasn't willing to go to a theater to watch it.
Our conversation about these films was a bit constrained in that he didn't want me to spoil the biopic for him, and each movie includes things the other one doesn't. Particularly, the biopic gets into his childhood and the way he suffered under the thumb of his abusive brute of a father, but ends well before anything the documentary is about.
Part of that is by design; there's a New York Times Magazine piece ("The Rise and Fall and Rise of Michael Jackson") that details how the Jackson camp needed the film Michael to burnish his reputation, and opted for a biopic over yet another documentary. Part of it is by accident; an early edit of the film did make an oblique reference to one of Jackson's accusers, which breached the confidentiality agreement that covered Jackson's settlement with his family. Consequently, about a third of the movie was cut and reshot to fix the problem.
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: We have been watching The Mandalorian in anticipation of the new movie. Tracy says we need to re-watch The Book of Boba Fett between seasons two and three (yet she puts her foot down when it comes to watching The Clone Warsatall*). I have also been reading Skywalker: A Family at War and was surprised to discover that Ahsoka Tano (from The Mandalorian) is a character from The Clone Wars. It also came as a surprise when Tracy told me that Ahsoka Tano has her own TV series (which we have not seen).
In another discussion, doc photo recently said: "I don't think I wil re-watch the entire run [of The Mandalorian] but I was considering watching key episodes. If there are any that really impress you during your re-watch let me know."
The last episode of season two.
*To be fair, we tried watching the first episode twice before and just couldn't get into it. I was willing to give it more of a chance, but Tracy put her foot down.
doc photo > Jeff of Earth-JJune 10, 2026 at 8:31am
Thanks Jeff.
I don't know if it is still set up this way but at one time Disney Plus listed key episodes of The Clone Wars seperately from the all inclusive list. It was still quite a few episodes but it did narrow it down to the ones that were important to the overall narrative of the prequels/sequels.
I believe I saw Willard on television back when CBS showed old movies after the 11 o'clock news (this being the days before the other networks dared mount a serious challenge to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson). But I remember better -- of course -- the MAD magazine parody, "Willies."
Don't believe I ever saw Ben, in whole or in part.
MY THREE SONS - SEASON 4 - Episode 6 introduces Meredith MacRae as Sally. I didn't watch Petticoat Junction too any great extent, so I didn't recognize her as Billie Jo Bradley (just as it was only recently I came to realize that Bea Benaderet played both Cousin Pearl on Beverly Hillbillies as well as Kate Bradley.
Episode 7 introduces Barry Livingston as Ernie, Steve's soon-to-be replacement "third" son (fourth actually). I knew he replaced "Sudsy" as Chip's best friend at some point, but I wasn't sure when it happened onscreen. Sudsy was written out between seasons with no onscreen mention whatsoever.
In episode 22, Tina Cole assays her second role on the series. (Her third would be much more lasting.)
Gene Reynolds, who went on to M*A*S*H (the TV show), directed 37 of the season's 39 episodes. Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, and Indus Arthur (all from the movieM*A*S*H) all guest-starred during season four.
Coincidentally, we watched Sandra Gould's one guest appearance the same day we just happened to watch her first appearance of (the replacement) Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched.
I always get a little thrill when I spot an unexpected guest-star, and season five included appearances by Beau Bridges, Tim Matheson, George Takei, John Banner, Jean Stapleton, Martin Sheen and Tony Dow.
I highly recommend Widow's Bay on Apple. It's a horror-comedy that deftly walks that tightrope, and it stars Matthew Rhys, who was outstanding in The Americans and Perry Mason.
I finally watched the two-part finale of Route 66. I'm glad that the series came to an actual conclusion, but the ep itself is problematic. Granted, the final season isn't the strongest, and my reaction may be coloured by the fact that I mainly just watched the top-rated episodes of each season.
"Where There's a Will, There's a Way" is not just one of the show's comic episodes: it's a full-blown farce with traces of dark comedy. For what it is, it's well-performed. Guests include Barbara Eden and a number of "that guy" actors, including Chill Wills, and Roger C. Carmel, playing a role prescient of his role as Harcourt Fenton Mudd on Star Trek. The ridiculous plot would make good dinner theatre. But it feels off. Before we get to the fascinating visual record of the place our heroes are visiting (in this case, 1964 Florida), we get a grotesquely stereotypical view of various places around the world-- Russia, France, and Genericlands in Africa and South America. Granted, the members of the bizarre family Tiffin Family pretend to be stereotypical people from other countries. The trend continues, with Tod and Linc disguising themselves (they have a disguise budget, apparently) as stereotypical people from other countries, all played for cheap laughs. All of this would be normal in a sitcom of the time, but not in a show that, in the past, has sensitively portrayed various ethnic communities in the U.S. And, of course, Buz is missing entirely. He's missed. Linc is an interesting character, but the Linc and Tod going their separate ways (sort of) plays a lot differently than if it has been Buz and Tod doing the same. The series itself receives a happy if somewhat open ending, in terms of where the characters go. As an episode, however, it seems to be a linc, I mean, link between the heavier type of show that Route 66 started out being, and the idiotcoms that were beginning to dominate television.
Replies
If I remember correctly, Ben was a sequel to Willard. I saw Willard at the theater, but I don't think I ever got around to Ben. In Willard, the title character is a loner who befriends rats, and eventually uses them to get revenge on the man who had taken his father's company, fired him and was trying to get his house. When Willard has a change of heart about having rats as friends -- he's on the verge of having a girlfriend! -- one of them (Ben) leads the others against Willard. Since you know the name of the sequel, it's no spoiler to guess who won.
I reviewed it just now. Although I rewatched Willard after reading the novel a few years ago (The Ratman's Notebooks), I hadn't seen Ben since I was a kid. Michael Jackson sings the theme song over the end credits, but it's actually the kid singing in the movie, and not unrealistically well, let us say. We see him making up the song and then later singing it to his mom.
Scene from film:
Someone's video of film clips and the Michael Jackson version:
I've seen Michael, the biopic, but not this documentary; on the other hand, my son has seen this documentary but not the biopic. I'm not in a rush to see this documentary because I pretty much know what it tells us; my son is not in a rush to see the biopic because it isn't out on a streaming service and he wasn't willing to go to a theater to watch it.
Our conversation about these films was a bit constrained in that he didn't want me to spoil the biopic for him, and each movie includes things the other one doesn't. Particularly, the biopic gets into his childhood and the way he suffered under the thumb of his abusive brute of a father, but ends well before anything the documentary is about.
Part of that is by design; there's a New York Times Magazine piece ("The Rise and Fall and Rise of Michael Jackson") that details how the Jackson camp needed the film Michael to burnish his reputation, and opted for a biopic over yet another documentary. Part of it is by accident; an early edit of the film did make an oblique reference to one of Jackson's accusers, which breached the confidentiality agreement that covered Jackson's settlement with his family. Consequently, about a third of the movie was cut and reshot to fix the problem.
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: We have been watching The Mandalorian in anticipation of the new movie. Tracy says we need to re-watch The Book of Boba Fett between seasons two and three (yet she puts her foot down when it comes to watching The Clone Wars at all*). I have also been reading Skywalker: A Family at War and was surprised to discover that Ahsoka Tano (from The Mandalorian) is a character from The Clone Wars. It also came as a surprise when Tracy told me that Ahsoka Tano has her own TV series (which we have not seen).
In another discussion, doc photo recently said: "I don't think I wil re-watch the entire run [of The Mandalorian] but I was considering watching key episodes. If there are any that really impress you during your re-watch let me know."
The last episode of season two.
*To be fair, we tried watching the first episode twice before and just couldn't get into it. I was willing to give it more of a chance, but Tracy put her foot down.
Thanks Jeff.
I don't know if it is still set up this way but at one time Disney Plus listed key episodes of The Clone Wars seperately from the all inclusive list. It was still quite a few episodes but it did narrow it down to the ones that were important to the overall narrative of the prequels/sequels.
I'll keep that in mind (but I'd still have to convince Tracy to watch it).
Actually, Skywalker: A Family at War summarizes all three trilogies and tells me all about the Clone War that I need to know.
I believe I saw Willard on television back when CBS showed old movies after the 11 o'clock news (this being the days before the other networks dared mount a serious challenge to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson). But I remember better -- of course -- the MAD magazine parody, "Willies."
Don't believe I ever saw Ben, in whole or in part.
MY THREE SONS - SEASON 4 - Episode 6 introduces Meredith MacRae as Sally. I didn't watch Petticoat Junction too any great extent, so I didn't recognize her as Billie Jo Bradley (just as it was only recently I came to realize that Bea Benaderet played both Cousin Pearl on Beverly Hillbillies as well as Kate Bradley.
Episode 7 introduces Barry Livingston as Ernie, Steve's soon-to-be replacement "third" son (fourth actually). I knew he replaced "Sudsy" as Chip's best friend at some point, but I wasn't sure when it happened onscreen. Sudsy was written out between seasons with no onscreen mention whatsoever.
In episode 22, Tina Cole assays her second role on the series. (Her third would be much more lasting.)
Gene Reynolds, who went on to M*A*S*H (the TV show), directed 37 of the season's 39 episodes. Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, and Indus Arthur (all from the movie M*A*S*H) all guest-starred during season four.
Coincidentally, we watched Sandra Gould's one guest appearance the same day we just happened to watch her first appearance of (the replacement) Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched.
I always get a little thrill when I spot an unexpected guest-star, and season five included appearances by Beau Bridges, Tim Matheson, George Takei, John Banner, Jean Stapleton, Martin Sheen and Tony Dow.
I highly recommend Widow's Bay on Apple. It's a horror-comedy that deftly walks that tightrope, and it stars Matthew Rhys, who was outstanding in The Americans and Perry Mason.
I finally watched the two-part finale of Route 66. I'm glad that the series came to an actual conclusion, but the ep itself is problematic. Granted, the final season isn't the strongest, and my reaction may be coloured by the fact that I mainly just watched the top-rated episodes of each season.
"Where There's a Will, There's a Way" is not just one of the show's comic episodes: it's a full-blown farce with traces of dark comedy. For what it is, it's well-performed. Guests include Barbara Eden and a number of "that guy" actors, including Chill Wills, and Roger C. Carmel, playing a role prescient of his role as Harcourt Fenton Mudd on Star Trek. The ridiculous plot would make good dinner theatre. But it feels off. Before we get to the fascinating visual record of the place our heroes are visiting (in this case, 1964 Florida), we get a grotesquely stereotypical view of various places around the world-- Russia, France, and Genericlands in Africa and South America. Granted, the members of the bizarre family Tiffin Family pretend to be stereotypical people from other countries. The trend continues, with Tod and Linc disguising themselves (they have a disguise budget, apparently) as stereotypical people from other countries, all played for cheap laughs. All of this would be normal in a sitcom of the time, but not in a show that, in the past, has sensitively portrayed various ethnic communities in the U.S. And, of course, Buz is missing entirely. He's missed. Linc is an interesting character, but the Linc and Tod going their separate ways (sort of) plays a lot differently than if it has been Buz and Tod doing the same. The series itself receives a happy if somewhat open ending, in terms of where the characters go. As an episode, however, it seems to be a linc, I mean, link between the heavier type of show that Route 66 started out being, and the idiotcoms that were beginning to dominate television.
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