The Watching Hour: Willow

USA, 1988, 126 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Action/Adventure, Fantasy

Friday & Saturday, March 1st & 2nd at 10pm as part of The Watching Hour!
Digital presentation - 25th Anniversary Digital Restoration!
Though Willow was one of director Ron Howard's few box-office disappointments, it definitely deserves a second look. At once an epic celebration and a gentle spoof of the sword-and-sorcery genre, the film concerns the efforts by little person Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) to protect a sacred infant from the machinations of a wicked queen (Jean Marsh). One source book has assessed the picture as a combination ofThe Ten Commandments and Snow White. This is true enough, except that neither one of those properties offered such offbeat casting choices as Billy Barty and Jean Marsh. Executive producer George Lucas has (through the conduit of screenwriter Bob Dolman) added elements of his own Star Wars saga to the stew.

DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
Principal Cast: Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis
US Distributor: Criterion Pictures