ben

[careychl]

is there a copy of the film ben ? about a disabled boy with a pet rat anywhere out there

[joko]

Not entirely sure there ever was a film about it.

As I recall there was a little boy in the late 70's-early 80's who had a national campaign and lots of publicity because he was so ill. They used to play Michael Jacksons song 'Ben' a lot during footage of him etc. The song is about a pet rat.

I may be wrong in that they eventually made a film about him, but I doubt it - he was only about 2 or 3 when he died so unlikely to have had a rat.

[smorodina]

'Ben' was a sequel to the movie'Willard', but it doesn't appear to be available commercially at the moment. Description here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068264/

[joko]

Well I never! Seems Smorodina is right, though the film is not about the real little disabled boy from the 70's

Looks like two very similar stories have been mixed up. - bit of a coincidence though eh?

[LeMarchand]

"Willard" was recently remade, and star Crispin Glover directed a video of his character performing the song. It was (predictably) somewhat bizarre! You can see it as an extra on the DVD or here: http://www.willardmovie.com/index_flash.html

Amazon.com list a few copies of both originals on VHS if you can play NTSC.

[Ouisch]

I saw "Ben" on TV many years ago...it was quite different than "Willard", almost a 'feel-good' rat movie, if there is such a thing.  The Crispin Glover version of "Willard" wasn't quite as spooky as the original, IMHO.