A reptilian riff on the
1971 shocker Willard, which concerned
a demented boy who commands an army of rats, Stanley concerns a demented adult who commands an army of snakes.
Although the movie goes slack at regular intervals, resulting in an overlong
running time, Stanley offers just
enough in the way of creepy-crawly moments and outright gruesomeness to sustain
casual interest. The picture also benefits from a weirdly compelling performance
by leading man Chris Robinson, later a fixture on American soap operas. While
his acting isn’t especially charismatic or skillful, he’s just competent enough
to sell the illusion of being more comfortable around snakes than people, and
that’s the most important thing the makers of Stanley needed to put their grim little story over. While some of
the creature scenes underwhelm, like the bit during which a bad guy dives into
a pool filled with snakes that look harmless, Stanley doesn’t want for money shots of rattlers clamping their
jaws onto victims’ bodies.
Set in rural Florida, the picture follows the
exploits of Tim Ochopee (Robinson), a Vietnam vet who makes his
living capturing rattlers and selling their venom to a local doctor. Tim treats
the snakes like friends, especially his beloved Stanley, for whom Tim
provides a mate. (The pitter-patter of little scales soon follows.) The villain
of the piece is Thomkins (Alex Rocco), a local businessman whom, Tim suspects,
had Tim’s father killed. Thomkins is a piece of work, groping his teenage
daughter and threatening to turn every snake he encounters into a belt. Also in
the mix is Sidney (Ray Baumel), the proprietor of a local strip club, and his
wife, aging exotic dancer Gloria (Marcie Knight). They use snakes that Stanley
provides in Gloria’s act. As the story progresses, Tim’s world falls apart. Sidney
tells Gloria to start killing snakes during her act, and Thomkins orders a hit
on Tim and his pets. Tim fights back against his various enemies, using his
friends’ fangs as weapons. Despite lackadaisical pacing, the plot builds nicely, and the final moments are
morbidly satisfying. One more thing: Good luck forgetting the scene where Tim
serves a formal dinner to his scaly pals, because the entrée is mice under
glass.
Stanley:
FUNKY
A couple of years ago I saw this for the first time and wondered who the striking blonde who played the "teenage daughter" was. Just weeks later, quite out of the blue, I learned that I actually knew the actress in real life - she lived in my neighborhood in the late '70s and I was friends with her daughter (with whom I used to babysit the woman's toddler son). She is a native Floridian whose sole movie appearance was in Stanley. She still lives in South Florida.
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