''Ratboy'' is a 1986 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by and starring

Sondra Locke Sandra Louise Anderson (''née'' Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director. She achieved worldwide recognition for her relationship with Clint Eastwood and the six hit f ...

. The make-up effects were designed by

Rick Baker Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Mak ...

. The film's scenario is at times

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

or serious, and one of its peculiarities is that there never is any explanation for Ratboy's origin and existence as a human-rat hybrid. ''Ratboy'' had a troubled production and was both a critical and commercial failure. However, it received better reviews in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an countries, especially

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, winning the

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Ch ...

Synopsis

A former

window dresser Window dressers are retail workers who arrange displays of goods in shop windows or within a shop itself. Such displays are themselves known as "window dressing". They may work for design companies contracted to work for clients or for department s ...

named Nikki overhears mention of a mysterious "Ratboy" named Eugene while

dumpster diving Dumpster diving (also totting, skipping, skip diving or skip salvage) is salvaging from large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers for unused items discarded by their owners but deemed useful to the picker. It is n ...

at a dump. After finding and befriending him, Nikki makes several attempts at marketing his uniqueness to the public. At the same time, Eugene wishes to avoid public attention. In the end, the police are searching for Eugene's body, as Nikki stands by, saddened, until a crystal in her jacket pocket begins to glow. Eugene has survived the police gunfire and is hiding atop a tree, signaling to Nikki. Nikki is happy that Eugene is alive. Eugene then flees as the police continue searching for him.

Cast

as Nikki Morrison *

Sharon Baird Sharon Baird is an American actress, voice actress, singer, dancer and puppeteer who is best known for having been a Mouseketeer. Early life Baird was born August 16, 1943 Seattle, Washington to Eldon Baird, an aerospace worker, and Nikki Mar ...

as Eugene / Ratboy (as S.L. Baird) * Robert Townsend as Manny *

Christopher Hewett Christopher George Hewett (5 April 1921 – 3 August 2001) was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere on the ABC sitcom '' Mr. Belvedere''. Career Hewett was born in Worthing, Sussex to C ...

as Acting Coach *

Larry Hankin Larry Hankin (born ) is an American character actor, performer, director, comedian and producer. He is known for his major film roles as Charley Butts in '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979), Ace in '' Running Scared'' (1986), and Carl Alphonse in ...

as Robert Jewell *

Sydney Lassick Sydney Lassick (July 23, 1922 – April 12, 2003) was an American character actor perhaps best known for his role as Charlie Cheswick in the feature film '' One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest''. Lassick's first name was sometimes spelled ''Sidney' ...

as Lee 'Dial-A-Prayer' * Gerrit Graham as Billy Morrison *

Louie Anderson Louis Perry Anderson (March 24, 1953 – January 21, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. Anderson created the cartoon series ''Life with Louie'' and the television sitcom ''The Louie Show'', and wrote four ...

as Omer Morrison * Billie Bird as Psychic *

John Witherspoon John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense real ...

as Heavy * Charles Bartlett as Catullus Cop * Gordon Anderson as the voice of Ratboy * Tim Thomerson as Alan Reynolds (uncredited)

Reception

The film has a 'rotten' rating of 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' gave it two out of four stars, calling the film 'perplexing' and criticizing the film's unique premise devolving into a more standard narrative. Janet Maslin of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the film 'disorganized', criticizing the script and directing choices of Locke. On the opposite end, Michael Wilmington of ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' was more positive, calling the film, 'Grimm Brothers-style, mixing wonder with rough edges, undertones of pain beneath the fantasy.'

Awards

Sondra Locke received a 1987 Razzie nomination for Worst Actress, losing to Madonna for '' Who's That Girl''.

References

External links

* * 1986 films Warner Bros. films Films directed by Sondra Locke 1986 drama films American drama films Malpaso Productions films Films scored by Lennie Niehaus 1986 directorial debut films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{1980s-drama-film-stub