Howard the Duck (1986)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Willard Huyck

Writers:

Steve Gerber (Marvel comics character: Howard the Duck)
Willard Huyck (written by) ...

Release Date:

1 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

You will believe that a duck can talk.

Plot:

A sarcastic humanoid duck is pulled from his homeworld to Earth where he must stop an alien invader.

Plot Keywords:

Duck | Laser | Singer | Alien | Planet

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Lea Thompson	...	Beverly Switzler
Jeffrey Jones	...	Dr. Walter Jenning
Tim Robbins	...	Phil Blumburtt
Ed Gale	...	Howard T. Duck
Chip Zien	...	Howard T. Duck (voice)
Tim Rose	...	Howard T. Duck
Steve Sleap	...	Howard T. Duck
Peter Baird	...	Howard T. Duck
Mary Wells	...	Howard T. Duck
Lisa Sturz	...	Howard T. Duck
Jordan Prentice	...	Howard T. Duck
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Lieutenant Welker
Liz Sagal	...	Ronette, Cherry Bomb
Dominique Davalos	...	Cal, Cherry Bomb
Holly Robinson Peete	...	K.C., Cherry Bomb (as Holly Robinson)

Also Known As:

Howard: A New Breed of Hero (UK)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:PG (certificate #28226) | West Germany:12 (cut) | Germany:16 (2007 re-rating) | UK:PG (cut) | UK:12 (DVD rating) | Australia:PG | South Korea:12 | Netherlands:6 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Black Point, Marin County, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

In a 1986 interview in "Star Hits" magazine, singer Belinda Carlisle stated that she auditioned for a role in the film.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Palm trees in Cleveland, Ohio.

Quotes:

Howard T. Duck: If God had wanted us to fly he wouldn't have taken away our wings.

Movie Connections:

References Flashdance (1983)

Soundtrack:

Duckworld Television Muzak

One word review: ugh

I like bad movies. No--I LOVE bad movies. They're fun to make fun of, good fun to watch. I mean, come on, I OWN copies of both 'Manos - The Hands of Fate' and 'Gigli,' both of which I rather enjoy. Enough said.

I rented 'Howard the Duck' expecting it to be bad. Just the way I like 'em.

I am flabbergasted to say that it fell far below my lowest possible expectations.

Bad acting, but with Lea Thompson in the picture you can't expect too much. I was quite disappointed with Tim Robbins, at least HE should have been more capable. Jeffrey Jones puts in the best performance of the film as far as I'm concerned, but that's not saying much.

Howard himself? Even given the limited capabilities of 1986 Hollywood, I still was shocked at how laughably ridiculous he looked.

Special effects? Nothing special. Lots of other movies from this era have better (or worse) special effects and are more worth watching.

To be brief, everything you heard about 'Howard the Duck' is true. Forget 'Manos' and 'Monster A Go-Go' and the other movies in IMDb's bottom 100. Those are all classics. As far as I'm concerned, 'Howard' is at the bottom of the stack, and not in a good way, either.