SYNOPSICS
Ratboy (1986) is a English movie. Sondra Locke has directed this movie. Sondra Locke,Robert Townsend,Christopher Hewett,Larry Hankin are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1986. Ratboy (1986) is considered one of the best Comedy,Crime,Drama movie in India and around the world.
A physically deformed and somewhat feral teenager whose face looks like the snout of a rodent lives in solitude and misery in a city dump. Two rednecks come across his lair and kidnap him. They inform the papers about their find in case someone might want to see or interview the "Ratboy". Only Nikki, a bored fired window dresser pretending to be a reporter shows up. She wants to profit off of the child as well, so she calls the cops who arrest the rednecks and she takes the child with her to her flat. She and her two dummy brothers try to think of a way to profit on the boy, but he tends to get easily agitated and depressed and no one wants anything to do with him except possibly hurt him emotionally or even physically.
Ratboy (1986) Reviews
a masterpiece of bad taste
"Ratboy" is not a good movie by any means. The freakish protagonist (despite the movie´s theme song) lacks personality. In fact, he´s disgusting in every way. The script is incredibly lame without being funny. As can be expected of a Sondra Locke movie, it is just as bland as her cutesy modern cowboy farces with Clint Eastwood. The plot is all over the place. In spite of all these flaws, though, the film is so unique that it´s fascinating. It pretty much gives the message that monsters do not necessarily have to have a hidden beauty and are best left alone. The plot concerns a reporter named Nicky (Locke) finding a rat-human hybrid named Eugene and adopting him while seeing him as nothing more than a news story that would dramatically improve her career. Her human associates don´t treat him much better. In spite of this, Eugene falls in love with Nicky (which is never particularly sad or funny). She does not love him back but is torn between exploiting him and feeling sorry for him. There are some crime related subplots too and Christopher Hewitt from "Mr. Belvedere" makes some appearances playing (surprise) a snooty British guy. This plot keeps the viewer interested if nothing else but only because it is so weird that anyone would wonder what will happen next. Basically, what´s great about the movie is that people with good sense would never have made it but Locke and company went ahead and made it anyway ! Therefore, "Ratboy" is every bit as punk as the Sex Pistols´ first album. Its audacity is remarkable.
It's all over the place
When Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke were still an item, Eastwood helped Locke make her directorial debut with this movie through his production company Malpaso. Though Eastwood has typically shown a good batting average when picking projects, this movie joins efforts like "Pink Cadillac" that have you thinking, "What were you thinking, Clint?" Actually, much of the failure of "Ratboy" falls on Locke's shoulders. The first mistake she made was casting herself in the movie; Locke has never been a good actress, and this movie is no exception. As for her direction, the movie is a mess. Sometimes it's serious in tone, sometimes it's satirical, and sometimes its tone is downright farce. The movie never finds a consistent tone, so it's hard to get involved with what's happening. It also doesn't help that the characters' actions are more often than not unbelievable, even when the movie tries to be serious. And while the title character can speak, there is surprisingly little effort to get into his head and learn what he's thinking or feeling. In fairness to Locke, some of the mess was probably not her fault. The story, either through an inadequately written screenplay or (more likely) being hacked up in the editing room, has a number of moments where it's clear that certain plot details are blatantly missing. There are plot threads that seem to start in midstream, or are never resolved at all. What all this results in is a real mess of a movie, and it's easy to see why Warner Brothers barely released it to theaters.
It's Unique
First, let's get off our high horses and stop ragging the movie like it's infested with the plague. Okay? It's a movie, a unique movie, about exploitation. Okay, the main character is a rat ... or is it human? ... or whatever. The fact is that this movie teaches us to be more sensitive to those who are different, in this case, REALLY different, even if this movie stretches the message a bit far. I know that it's hard to empathize with character that's a rodent, but Ratboy is a LOVABLE rodent, so why not leave it at that? At the party in the movie, Ratboy seems perfectly in place, nobody was avoiding him (I presume he didn't have fleas), which proves that when we want to we can accept those who are different. One criticism of this movie is that Ratboy is so trusting and naive that perhaps it would have been better if the movie had been about, let's say, a gerbil or a rabbit, and not a rat. Also, the movie fails to address certain obvious questions, like where Ratboy came from and how he is able to talk, but such considerations would probably take this movie in a direction that would undermine the movie's essential charm. For "Ratboy" is a charming movie and Ms. Locke is perfect as the lady who is orchestrating everything. Even though Ratboy is exploited, nobody wants to hurt him and everyone actually likes him. It's a unique and unpretentious movie which, if accepted on its own terms, is watchable and will not disappoint. But if you watch this movie expecting to experience some kind of Shakespearean classic, then either you have been grossly misinformed or someone is trying to play a joke on you.
My memory has failed me
Long ago, when I was a child, I had seen part of this movie. From what my memory had recalled, I had liked what I'd seen. Boy, was I wrong. I haven't seen this movie anywhere to rent for a long time, and then one day I saw it for sale for a few bucks in some discount bin in a video store. I'd figured I'd pick it up and see what I had missed since my original viewing. I watched it and was not sure what to think about it. First off I hated Sondra Locke. She was not funny, very annoying and had the worst outfits I have ever seen on a woman. The box of this movie promotes it as a comedy. Well I didn't really think that this rating was appropriate, since the only time I laughed was when the actors tried to act. Ratboy has no emotion (which was what the movie was trying to promote), and whenever he talked I couldn't understand what he was saying. Some of the supporting characters were alright, I enjoyed Nipsy Russell and Robert Townshend, and Gerritt Graham and Louie Anderson were okay, I also enjoyed seeing cameos from Bill Maher, John Lovitz and "Diz" from the TV show Out of Control. Other than that I feel that this movie should have never been made. But I cant change the past, so if your in the mood for a boring "comedy", and if you can find this movie anywhere, maybe you should check it out, but I don't recommend it.
Ratboy: why movies should never have been invented
Read the other comments about this "film" and you'll hear some attempts to treat it nicely; ie it was emotional, charismatic, etc. These people have no taste and are single-handedly keeping Jerry Bruckheimer (sic) in business. Ratboy is horrible. Horrible horrible. And, not even in a self-conscious manner, as if to poke fun of itself. People, i ask you to please go see this and start appreciating quality films again. "Ratboy the Pimp" is a moment worth remembering for the rest of your lives. It's so bad it hurts me in a special place. Horrible. In fact, it's so bad, that i need to invent a new word to describe it: Natoosh. A movie is "natoosh" when it extends the boundaries of bad film. When it redefines our core values of good and evil, well, that's natoosh. Ratboy is Natoosh to the extreme. I pray for humanity...