Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck (1986)

 
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John Wilson
Updated November 30, 2024
Howard The Duck

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Movie Overview | Howard the Duck (1986)

In this film based on the comic book character, Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly (Lea Thompson) from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil (Tim Robbins), who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body.

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2.8
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3.0(1)
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Ridiculous but Fun
(Updated: January 04, 2025)
Overall rating
 
2.8
Entertainment Factor
 
3.0
Story
 
2.0
Actors Performance
 
3.0
Cinematography
 
3.0
Sound Track
 
3.0
Howard the Duck was perhaps George Lucas’ attempt to satirize pal Steven Spielberg’s E.T, using a sardonic Marvel comic book character most people hadn’t heard of. Since the movie’s release on 1 August 1986, Howard the Duck has become a byword for box-office catastrophe, not to mention an easy rod to beat wunderkind Lucas’s back with (until he handed us a much bigger one with the Star Wars prequels), but I’m not ashamed to admit I have a soft spot for this kitsch aberration.

It’s a ridiculous 1980s B-movie that I found mesmerizing as a child. And even as a discerning 37-year-old, able to see through my juvenile response to something childish but with grownup overtones, I still can’t find it in my heart to totally hate Howard the Duck. Given the ludicrous concept, director Willard Huyck made an edible omelet from bad eggs…

Howard T. Duck (voiced by Chip Zien) is an anthropomorphic duck living on a bizarro ‘Duckworld’ version of Earth — a planet shaped like an egg, because that makes complete sense. Late one night, while thumbing through a copy of Playduck magazine, Howard’s comfy armchair is snared by a cosmic tractor beam and he’s literally pulled across the galaxy through a wormhole, to be rudely deposited in rainswept Cleveland, Ohio.

Once there, our waterfowl hero immediately saves Cyndi Lauper-esque singer Beverly (Lea Thompson) from street muggers, by threatening them with ‘Quack-Fu’, and is given shelter from a storm in gratitude. The next day, Beverly takes Howard to see nutty scientist Phil Blumburtt (Tim Robbins, in an early role), hoping he can explain Howard’s situation and find a way to send him home, but it turns out Phil’s just a nerdy janitor. However, there are a group of bona fide scientists from a nearby observatory who may have been responsible for Howard’s abduction, with one of them (Jeffrey Jones) also finding himself possessed by an intergalactic monster from another part of the universe.

As an adult, my source of enjoyment now stems from the one element I defy anyone not to enjoy without any sense of guilt: aforementioned character actor Jeffrey Jones, who gets all the best lines as a mild-mannered astrophysicist infected with a malevolent space-crab. It’s Men In Black’s human-cockroach ‘Edgar-suit’ a full decade earlier, only twice as funny. 

Unlike so many modern fantasy villains, Jenning’s metamorphosis was even allowed to reach a lurid excess — gradually turning from a crooked, bald, bony old man into a demonic alien parasite. The film makes a still-common mistake in replacing human Jones with a puppet for its final confrontation, but his beastly form arrives late enough for your memory of a frazzle-haired Jones to dominate.

This film is gloriously stupid, and I don’t begrudge anyone for disliking it, but for a live-action movie about a talking duck who defeats an extraterrestrial with the help of a sexy rock chick and a goofy nerd, you get exactly what you expect. The effects are pretty good (I never understood the scorn poured on the £2 million duck-suit with its expressive eyes), all the performances are fine (Howard’s a fun cynic, Thompson’s game-for-a-laugh, Jones is scary and hilarious), and it ends with rousing pre-digital ILM spectacle. Sure, the jokes err on the side of infantile puns all too often, there’s a stench of ’80s cheese that grows more pungent with each passing year, and fans of the source material will always say it’s a terrible dilution of the anarchic comic-book — but, as far as silly pieces of trash cinema go, Howard the Duck’s more entertaining than people dare admit in public. 
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