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Howard The Duck
Year: 1986

Directed:

- Willard Huyck

Actors/Actresses:

- Lea Thompson
- Tim Robbins
- Jeffrey Jones




An ILM Late 80's Audition Reel!!

Momma always said, "you learn more from your failures, than you do from your successes." I think Momma has a point. Sometimes failures can point the way to the future. The 80's were a good barometer for that, and no other movie has blazed the trail of failure quite like Willard Huyck colossal miscalculation HOWARD THE DUCK. A movie that is inept and pointless, and yet so full of innovative and yes even breathtaking special effects.
HOWARD THE DUCK tells the story of a duck named Howard (voiced by Chip Zein, and played by a bunch of little people in a duck suit) who lives on a planet much like earth, except Duck's are the top of the food chain. He's a failed rock musician who's finally given up that dream and has settled into the mundane life of an advertising copywriter. On one particular day, he's just gets home from another day of the daily grind, when he's sucked into a giant laser beam and transported to Cleveland, Ohio on our earth. Let the comic hijinks begin...well okay let the less than stellar puns begin.
Howard meets Beverly (Lean Thompson) a struggling rock musician and takes up "roost" in her apartment. After a day or so they fall in love. There's also a young Lab Assistant named Phil (Tim Robbins in a star-making performance) and Dr. Jennings (Jefferey Jones) whom want to help Howard get home, via the giant laser beam that brought him to earth in the first place.
I stop there because the second half of the movie has to do with this wild alien and I'm not quite sure I can do that part of the story any real justice. Suffice to say there's an alien threat and Howard is here to stop it. Actually he kind of runs away from it as the alien menace and the cops try to stop him.
HOWARD THE DUCK is based on a far more interesting and inventive comic book series created by Steve Gerber. This movie and that series have absolutely nothing in common but the name. In fact the movie ruined the comic book series that poor Steve Gerber sued Universal and George Lucas, and then killed off his Duck for a long time. How's that for fair.
Wait a second you say, go back just a minute, did you just say George Lucas? Yes ladies and gentlemen. George Lucas was the executive producer of this film and it shows. His fingerprint is on everything and more importantly Industrial, Lights, and Magic have designed this film as their audition reel. They throw everything into the pot, creature effects, stop motion, animation effects, makeup effects, an elaborate chase sequence (that I'm convinced was shot for shot re-created for the freeway chase in the MATRIX RELOADED, well not really but It's nice to speculate.) involving a small personal aircraft, and all of it is breath taking.
But why? Why did ILM and George Lucas waste all that time and energy? The only thing I can think is that they were doing tests for Lucas's next big project WILLOW.
You're probably now asking why doesn't the film work? The biggest problem is there is absoulty


Love this movie

I am 25 years old. I loved this movie as a kid. I watched it over and over again. I just ordered it for my 7 year old son with the hopes that he will like it as much as I did. I is a funny and stupid movie, but well worth it for the kids to watch. I highly recommend this movie for anyone between the ages of 5-13 years old.


Cult Classic

Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, and the always entertaining Jeffrey Jones star in this tale of a duck from an alternate universeBR>who finds himself transported to Earth and is now trying to get home. Lea Thompson plays the young woman who looks after him,BR>Tim Robbins plays the janitor who pretends to be a scientist,BR>and Jeffrey Jones plays a scientist who goes a little crazy.
The funny thing about movies that are ambitious and
BR>flop, Is nobody copies that formula. Sure Die Hard has been copied over and over. Under Siege etc. But Movies that don't make the big money are often forgotten. And that is what makes them better now then when they were released. Buackaroo Banzai is another example of a box office flop that has gained alot ofBR>success through video and dvd.
And I know alot of people will think I am crazy. But this is my
BR>favorite George Lucas film. There is something about Howard the BR>Duck that I gravitated towards as a kid. Maybe it was him being small in a strange foreign world he is yet to understand. Isn't that what childhood is about. The best movies are the ones whereBR>the movie never changes but as you watch it at a different ageBR>and a different point in your life you notice so much more.BR>I can't explain much further my fondness for Howard the Duck.BR>But I really love this movie.
I know there are alot of people who can't stand this movie,
BR>But for those who get it, There is nothing quite like itBR>and probally never will be again.






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