Howard the Duck (1986) - My Rating: {>>--}
(someone set up us the bomb)
Please note that this review has a few spoilers.
This is one of those movies that has a huge reputation. Its reputation far preceeds it. I knew all about how much a bomb this movie was at least ten years before I actually saw it.
So when I saw this movie at the video store for a mere $2 I ignored it at first. I bought it a week later, as I didn't want to miss a chance to see such a well known bomb.
Body count:1. There is a giant scorpion monster that Howard kills with a laser beam. Someone also transforms into an evil overlord. Although the evil overlord looks exactly the same as the actor did in the first place (but he does talk with an evil voice). Said character is played by Jeffrey Jones, and he always plays characters that everyone hates. The evil overlord claims the original character is dead. But he comes back later, so I am not even sure if you can call it a death.
Plot Outline: Howard is a humanoid duck from an alternate dimension where the world is populated with ducks rather than humans. He is sitting in his apartment reading Playduck when something magically rips him out of his chair, into space, and then onto earth. Upon arriving he is attacked again and again and again by 1980s fashion rejects and all girl biker gangs. Meanwhile we see Lea Thompson lip syncing on stage and sporting some really bad hair.
Lea is attacked by a pair of Boy George lookalikes in the alley that Howard was hiding in. Of course Howard comes to her rescue. He kicks their asses using Quack-Fu, and earns Lea's gratitude.
Howard and Lea travel back to her apartment, where she tells him about her band (Cherry Bomb), and keeps sticking her foot in her mouth by comparing him to earth animals. She seems to accept the fact that she has a humanoid duck staying with her without too much trouble at all. Actually she grows quite attached to him in a very short period of time.
Howard and Lea go to visit a young nerdy scientist, who seems to already have a nice chart of duck to humanoid duck evolution already made up. Howard soon tells Lea to piss off, and she gets all insulted. At this point he just starts walking around in public like it doesn't even matter.
Howard makes his way to the unemployment office, where he gets a job at some sort of brothel or sauna. He soon meets back up with the scientist and Lea Thompson again, and then the whole mess falls apart. We do however get to see a rather funny scene where Lea Thompson acts extremely seductive to Howard in order to mess with him.
My Opinion: This is completely worth watching as it is the epitome of cheesy 1980s movies, and it has an all-star cast. It is bad, but it is the kind of bad that you can laugh at. Overall it has a similar feel to Short Circuit, but it simply isn't as funny as Short Circuit was.
Interesting Notes:
- Phoebe Cates and Tori Amos were among the people who auditioned unsuccessfully for the role of Beverly.
- In the diner scene you can see the shadow of the pole holding a levitating rotating Howard up in the air.
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They spent thirty seven million dollars making this movie. Unfortunately it only grossed a mere sixteen million dollars at the box office, and still hasn't even begun to make up the deficit with the VHS and DVD releases.
- The "Howard the Duck" suit cost over two million dollars to make, and eight different people wore it during the film. These days Howard would have been completely CGI.
Lead roles:
- Lea Thompson - Beverly Switzler
- Jeffrey Jones - Doctor Walter Jennings
- Tim Robbins - Phil Blumburtt
- Tim Rose, Steve Sleap, Peter Baird, Mary Wells, Lisa Sturz, and Jordan Prentice - Howard the Duck
Directed by: Willard Huyck
Writing credits: Steve Gerber
Tagline: Trapped in a world he never made...
Sources: The oh-so-wonderful IMDB, my head, and
watching the sucker. A big thanks to weasello for the format
used.