amosduncan_2000 Stanley is enjoyable Drive In hokum, but it might have been a real classic if director Grefe had kept a little pace and not let long pauses and other nonsense pad the action. This film could lose about 25 minutes and be all the better for it. It's like they were afraid it was going to come out too short so they had everything go SLOW........ An obvious attempt to cash in on the success of "Willard" it is interesting that both central charactors start sympatheticly and turn bad. Actually, a more distinct arch in this case as Willard is kind of a creep from the get go.

Woodyanders Troubled and disaffected Native American Vietnam war veteran Tim Ochopee (a solid and convincing performance by Chris Robinson) lives in isolation in the Florida Everglades with rattlesnakes as his only companions. Fed up with mankind, Tim unleashes his slithery friends on anyone who rubs him the wrong way.Director William Grefe, working from an interesting script by Gary Crutcher (who also plays the shady Dr. Everett), relates the compelling story at a steady pace, maintains an engaging sincere tone throughout, and offers a flavorsome evocation of the remote marshland locations. The sound acting from the capable cast keeps this movie on track: The always reliable Alex Rocco contributes a lively and amusing portrayal of sleazy local snakeskin clothing kingpin Richard Thomkins, fetching blonde Susan Carroll provides plenty of spark as Thomkins's sassy spitfire daughter Susie, Marcie Knight makes for a plausibly pathetic washed-up hag as aging nightclub dancer Gloria Calvin, Steve Alaimo does well as brutish lackey Crail Denning, and Paul Avery has a hilariously wacky ball as zonked-out hippie hophead Marty 'Psycho' Simpson. Tim's tender relationship with his reptilian pals proves to be surprisingly touching while the startling moments of appalling actual animal cruelty push the PG rating about as far as it can go. Kudos are also in order for Clifford H. Poland Jr.'s picturesque cinematography and the infectiously groovy theme song. A fun drive-in flick.

Michael O'Keefe Tim Ochopee(Chris Robinson)is a young Seminole Indian returning from the war in Vietnam with emotional scars, bitter and seeking revenge for his father's death. He wants to spend his life in seclusion with his pet rattlesnake Stanley and mate Hazel. Tim makes a meager living by selling snake venom to a clinic for snake bite antidote. He is being pressured to sell his houseful of snakes to a snakeskin clothing manufacturer(Alex Rocco). Tim refuses and is being bullied by the same men that "accidentally" killed his father. The young Seminole will rely on his pet Stanley and family of rattlers as protection from his attackers. This movie is filled with too much dead time between situations. This low-budget horror flick lacks dialoge and seems to lumber along. Also in the cast: Susan Carroll, Paul Avery and 1960's singer Steve Alaimo.

MartinHafer The 1971 movie, WILLARD, was a very clever film about a lonesome loser who uses his pet rats to exact revenge against the nasty folks who wronged him. Now, a year later, the film was essentially remade by schlock director William Grefe--but this time using rattlesnakes instead of killer rats. The films are very similar. Both involve an outsider who had weird and dangerous pets as well as had fathers that were destroyed by his evil business partners.While STANLEY is not a good film, you can't put all the blame on schlock film director William Grefe (just most). While he was never a particularly competent or inspired director, this sort of trashy film was in style in the 1970s and lots of directors made a ton of them because people were willing to pay to see them. However, practically none of the ones made after WILLARD had decent acting or decent story ideas. They just churned out one low-budget crap film after another, starring such things as killer frogs, piranhas, ants and even bunnies! However, most were not like STANLEY or WILLARD--where a man fell in love with the animals and controlled them. The rest were simply mindless animals running amok--and it sold.This film begins with Tim Ochopee living in the Florida swamps. He's been back from Vietnam for several months and is sick of society and its violence. Now he's like the Dr. Doolittle of snakes--living in a house filled with the critters. He earns money capturing rattlesnakes to be milked for their venom, but otherwise has no use for people. Into his ideal world comes Alex Rocco and his scum assistants--trying to get Tim to betray his beloved snakes and sell them for their hides! While this disgusted Tim, what eventually drives him over the edge is learning that Rocco's thugs had murdered his father--and Tim and his best snake friend, Stanley, are out to even some scores.Having a killer snake is pretty funny, as much of the time it does what all real snakes do--not much. At one point he tells Stanley to bite a dying man on the hand...and the snake doesn't even more a millimeter towards the guy! It's all pretty funny and at least Willard's rats were mobile! Since Stanley is pretty much a bust most of the time, Tim also uses water moccasins (though they were really just harmless water snakes) and other nasties to kill off the enemies of the reptile world. It's actually pretty funny seeing the victims of these bites die almost instantly! These must be some snakes!! After dispatching several well-deserving jerks, Tim decides to kidnap Rocco's sexy daughter. He says that he "needs an Eve in his Garden of Eden". Well, this plan works about as well as you'd expect--especially since by this point Tim and his snakes had already killed the girl's father! You'd think that even the college educated Tim would see the flaw in this logic! Later, in a tender moment when Tim is trying to woo her, he says "I want to rape you...bed you...love you". Wow. It's hard to imagine any girl resisting this come-on line...unless she isn't brain dead!! During this dopey kidnapping and subsequent love(?) scene, the most insipid and cloying music drones on and on in the background. You see no snakes in this scene, by the way, because they were all throwing up...as were many in the audience! Later after they made sweet love (i.e., he raped her), they awaken and she confronts him with the fact he's 100% insane as well as a lousy lover (insert your own snake comment here if you'd like). He doesn't take this very well and begins overacting horribly...at which point, she also begins overacting and screaming. Perhaps this is just angst in realizing how bad the movie is. When they quiet down, it's now his turn to overact as he yells at Stanley to "kill her"--and the stupid snake just lays there doing nothing. I think killer sloths or slugs would have been more animated than snakes. Finally, tired of the whole dull affair, Stanley finally turns on Tim and bites him--but you never see this! Tim yells and holds his neck--but the snake didn't move an inch!! I guess he was just too fast for the cameras to see (yeah, right).Overall, this is a bad film but probably just about as bad as any other crazed animals attacking mankind film of the era--they were mostly all very bad and silly.