Stanley

Stanley (1972)

I just realized that I’ve never written a review for Stanley. Okay so how did this happen? I mean Stanley is one of my favorite drive-in movies ever. I would have sworn that I had reviewed this one before. But I’ve checked my review archives for Gutmunchers, as well as my records for the other sites that I’ve written for and now realize that I’ve never taken the time to review this movie anywhere. Time to rectify that, so lets get to the review.

Tim is a vet just back from Vietnam who also happens to be a Seminole Indian. He lives in the swamp in a small cabin avoiding human contact. The movie hints that he has been scarred somehow by the war, and we also find out that his father was killed in a hunting accident while Tim was overseas. Tim’s only real friends are his snakes that he keeps with him all the time. One of these is a rattlesnake named Stanley. Now if the world would just leave Tim alone everything would be fine. But an unscrupulous businessman named Thomkins wants Stanley to help him catch snakes. It seems that snakeskin belts are the hot new clothing item and Thomkins is looking to make some money. But Tim obviously doesn’t want his new friends killed for their skins and tosses Thomkins and his men off his land, warning them he had better never see them in the swamp again. But they come back and all hell breaks loose. Tim is pushed too far and decides to take his revenge with the help of his coldblooded friends.

I really love this movie. The story isn’t terribly original with the plot about an outsider and his animal friends getting some payback on the humans that have wronged them. But unlike the movie that inspired it (obviously Willard, the killer rat flick) Stanley has a far different vibe to it. It isn’t as serious as the other movie and in spite of the murders it has a more playful feel to it. I suppose this is probably because of the overall cheesiness to the movie. This comes from some of the funny dialogue, over the top performances, and by God that one freeze frame of Alex Rocco as Thomkins jumping into the pool. There are even some slapstick moments in the movie, like when an angry Stanley bites one of the bad guys on the butt. I suppose that this might annoy viewers looking for a more serious movie, but I think this is why I can watch this movie again and again.

It isn’t just that the movie is having more fun with the storyline. The pacing of Stanley is far better then I have expected from most regional made for the drive-in circuit movies. It doesn’t waste too much time trying to get into the motivation for each character before getting into the action. We never really find out what happened in the war that screwed Tim up so much. Far too many flicks like this would have gone for a flashback or monologue to explain the character. Here they don’t bother with that and just let the audience fill in the blanks. This is the most obvious example of how the director, William Grefe, keeps the action moving along briskly. That makes for a much better movie in my opinion.

If you are very lucky you will be able to track down the out of print DVD release of Stanley (which I don’t have damn it!). There are supposed to be some nice special features on it, including a nice documentary. The good news is that Stanley can also be found on several of the cheap public domain sets that have been put out by Mill Creek. I highly recommend that if you check this movie out.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer