One of the most talked-about movies of all time, Howard the Duck, lands on DVD for the first time ever in an all-new Special Edition! From executive producer George Lucas and the pages of Marvel Comics comes this unbelievably funny comedy about a fast-talking, cigar-chomping, beer-loving duck from a parallel universe who crashes to Earth. Featuring brand-new bonus features, a digitally remastered picture and new 5.1 surround sound, Howard the Duck Special Edition is a hidden treasure the whole family can enjoy.If you concentrate on the fact that Howard the Duck was a notorious box office dud (still brought up today) and considered one of the worst films of the ’80s, it’s entirely possible to enjoy this special effects piffle. Howard, played by a special effect puppet, lives on a planet where ducks evolved instead of apes, but one day he’s sucked into a vortex and deposited on Earth. There he befriends Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson), lead singer for the Cherry Bombs, becomes their manager, and, oh yeah, saves the Earth from the Dark Overlords. Jeffrey Jones is the villain and Tim Robbins (!) is there for comic relief. And who can resist the culmination of synthesizer pop, the Howard the Duck theme song, as realized by the Cherry Bombs? A midnight movie that your kids might watch more than you. –Keith Simanton
Buy “Howard the Duck” For Only $8.25
January 26, 2006
#1
by Dane Youssef
Oh, Jesus…
What can possibly be said about this movie that hasn’t already be said a thousand times? It almost seems redundant and tiresome to keep shooting such an already over-satirized target… though this movie took moments off my life I will never have back. I watched it simply to see what all the fuss was about.
I understand now…
Ughhhhhh….
They actually put this movie on DVD? Wow… well…
Easy target as it may be, I must now express my contempt and hatred. After the severe deforming scar it left on my psyche, it’s the very least of my
I actually lost seconds of my life as well, dear children. I actually feel like I’m suffering from motion sickness just THINKING about this movie…
Special FX Master George Lucas disowned this film. I know “Willow” wasn’t great… and neither was “Radioland Murders” Or “Star Wars: Episode II”…
But here is a movie… that brings us all together… unifying us… in anger, disgust and hate… and annoyance…
Too stupid and lame to be fun and thought-provoking… takes itself too seriously to be campy fun (even by the standards of schlock ’50′s sci-fi/action movies–now some of THOSE are fun!) But with none of the charm, innocence, sweetness, much grosser, much raunchier… and special FX that even for their time, look cheesy and crummy. They borderline on rolling static.
Too poorly filmed and horribly shot and embarrassingly acted to a fun family movie, too awkward and straight-faced to even be unintentionally funny…
….and the bestiality thing with Thompson and the duck…
well, there’s just NO genre for that, now is there?
This was not a good day for film. It’s like a full-length version of “ALF….”
No, wait… I LIKED “Alf.” I will not smear his legacy by associating it with this interplanetary bird-flu.
The fact that Howard knows a type of martial arts (“Quack Fu,” as he calls it) is hurtfully unfunny.
And this came from Lucas, who’s special FX company ILM is the finest on the planet? The effects are phony and ugly and hideous and horribly unconvincing… and that’s the last thing we’d ever expect from George Lucas. The special effects look like they’re from the ’50′s, like the very same surving production values from “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” Including the acting and screenplay. It’s like if Jar Jar Binks got his own starring movie… actually, that might have been better.
It’s “all too easy” (to quote the great Darth Vader) to point out what a hideously mismade, tacky as can be blunder. One can go on and on about what a monumental waste of film, time, money and other precious human resources. Hell, look at all the time and effort Lucas’ other company, Industrial Light & Magic put into this one. Why didn’t they just set it all on fire and dump it all into a cesspool? Would’ve saved time and cut-out the middle-man.
This little piffle was written by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, who are no strangers to Lucasfilm projects, having written several Lucas’ projects (“American Graffiti,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “Radioland Murders”). They’re obviously favorites and friends of Lucas and clearly they wanted to make a special-effects sci-fi extravaganza of their own. And you have to love Lucas for giving them the shot.
But it’s a disaster. Willard Hyuck has proved to be necessary and crucial script doctor polishing Lucas’ stuff so he seems like a superhuman Greek god of film. But every film he’s ever directed is not just bad, it becomes renown for being such a low point in cinema history.
His “catastrophes” include “Best Defense,” “Dead People” and this steaming pile. (OK, I’ll concede “French Postcards.” Hell, I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day).
Kids love taking animal characters, paticularly muppets and the like. Their favorite are the traditional wise-cracking, pratfalling types. Well, I’m sorry to say that Howard lacks humor or charm really of any kind. Honestly, he lacks any kind of interest whatsoever.
Does anyone here remember the scene where Jeffrey Jones as the Dark Overlord in the biker bar… the final showdown where the demons may enter through the portal to our dimension… the scene where Howard brawls with the guy managing the group… all had me shaking my head in disbelief…
I know most of this goddammed review isn’t exactly written in a deep, compelling way. But if the filmmakers didn’t put any real interest (or much fun) into this one, how can anyone talking about it? Well, maybe at it’s expense. That’s the best thing you can do with a bad movie.
And for this one, the rolling credits over the musical montage concert at the end… didn’t come soon enough.
Former accomplished ballerina-turned actress Lea Thompson has recovered from this abomination thankfully. Though I certainly have not.
It still haunts me…
danessf@yahoo.com
http://movies.yahoo.com/mvc/mymovies
January 26, 2006
#2
I’m sorry. No, really! I’m sorry I ever saw this movie. Besides the cheesy duck costumes and the fully inappropriate bestiality references, this film was imminently forgettable. Don’t waste your money.
January 26, 2006
#3
I’ve been looking for this DVD to drop for years now and after checking out more recent reviews, I didn’t realize the difficulty going on behind the scenes. After the facts and matters that this flick pretty much falls into the hands of the RAZZIE at the time of its release, I thought it was not bad. Wait, maybe I should mention that I was 15 when I saw it the first time and remember it having a slow start and I fell asleep (It was late and I had finished watching Rocky 4 which had me up and ready for the next video…) So, I watched it the next day after school. I thought it was dumb as hell until Howard the Duck started getting his tail kicked, LMAO! It got better from there ‘cawz Lea Thompson was ’nuff lickable in the Nu-Wave skin. Hol’ up, I just caught myself in the moment of writing as a 15 year old! Now 33, I just thought about how desparate they made a complete hottie like Lea’s charactor ( It’s been a long time since I last seen HTD,) seem by having her falling for an alien DUCK!!! Wow, somebody was deep into beastiallity… Now that I’m an adult, and finding out there was a comic behind the animal, I can understand why people were embarassed by this anime-to-life farce. I figure by now, this movie’s not a DVD, it’ll never be. Unless, of course, it’s accompanied by bonus features and all that (yeah, right… good luck getting the actors together for the interviews, behind-the-scenes from HBO, flying away in a gigantic egg after reading this review…) could happen, but I ain’t paying for it! Let it stay on cable and Saturday afternoons on indi stations when nothing else is on. Props to UNI for not letting this hit the streets again because most folks’ VCR’s do still work properly. Yo, my rating as a teen is a 3 ‘cawz of the legs on Lea, as an adult- DUCK DOWN!!!
PSYCH! I can’t wait for this to be on DVD, and it’s coming in MARCH!!! Thanks for disagreeing with me, Amazoners because this is a long-awaited classic and I hope they do it justice! I’ve pre-ordered mine and will review it after it arrives! I would up my star-rating to four, but it won’t let me now- oops.
January 26, 2006
#4
Steve Gerber’s original Howard the Duck comics were a classic mockery of the ’70s, from jabs at religious cults to Howard’s run for president in 1976 and even an issue almost entirely in text because of deadlines. However, Gerber left Howard and Marvel Comics at the end of the decade due to his struggle to gain control of his signature character.
Coming in 1986, at a time when Gerber’s dispute with Marvel had exploded into a full-blown legal battle (and the comic publisher had practically destroyed Howard with numerous changes in appearance and origin), the Howard the Duck movie was heavly hyped and awarded a huge budget-largely due to the involvement of one George Lucas. What emerged was the worst movie of 1986, and one of the 1980s many candidates for “worst movie ever”. For those ignorant of the original comic book, the reputation is well-earned, with an unlikeable lead and an incredibly stupid plot. For those of us familiar with Steve Gerber’s work, this film is nothing short of an abomination. However, years of repeated (and downright excessive) reruns on cable have created a number of apologists for this drivel. Do yourself a favor and avoid this wreck (and pray that George Lucas is able to keep it from appearing on DVD), while tracking down the Howard the Duck comics written by Steve Gerber, which are superior to this travesty in every way.
January 26, 2006
#5
Folks, even George Lucas, the man who gave us Hayden Christensen as Annakin Skywalker, knows this movie SUCKS. Why do you think it has taken so long for this vile bit of nonsense to slither onto DVD?
I saw it when it was first released. It SUCKED then. It SUCKED when I saw it on video a few years later.
The movie SUCKS. It is not an undiscovered classic, or an unfairly trashed movie that is so so much better than you’ve heard.
HOWARD THE DUCK SUCKS. Don’t be fooled.