Question: Build a movie plot around this: What did Willard's mother ordered him to do? Kill the rats in the backyard.
Answer:
Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison) is a pleasant but lonely young man who is unable to relate well to other people, particularly to his aging mother, Henrietta Stiles (Elsa Lanchaster) with whom he lives in a run-down mansion, and to his boss, Mr Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine), who stole the business from Willard's father several years before. At the office Willard is constantly belittled by Martin, finding understanding from Joan Simms (Sondra Locke).At home there is the celebration of his birthday, Charlotte Stassen (Jody Gilbert) and the rest of his mom's friends nag him about being more aggressive and going for an executive job, although Henrietta thinks that he wouldn't have been able to take charge of the business. He is nagged by his mother, particularly to kill some rats she has seen in their backyard. In the process of exterminating the rats, Willard saves them and finds as he feeds and plays with them that he can train the animals, by feeding them, and setting himself in their instincts as a rescuer. He baits the rats onto a pillar in the center of a well, and removes the wood bridge that they crossed. Then, as he fills the well, they are frantic, and he replaces the wood bridge; thus he cements their allegiance, and, in effect communicates with them. Meanwhile, Charlotte appears to take care of Henrietta, who falls sick and is an annoyingly meddlesome woman.The mother rat, whose life Willard saved, brings one of her off-spring to him. Willard learns that through Socrates, as he has named his pet, he can order the others in the pack to do his bidding, except for the mischievous Ben, who occasionally disobeys. Willard tests the rats' obedience by disrupting a dinner party Martin is hosting and to which he has not been invited.When Willard's mother dies, leaving him with the heavily mortgaged house, he uses the rats to help him steal money from one of his company's customers. Willard has begun the habit of taking Socrates and Ben to the office and letting them hide in the storeroom where one day they are...