Howard the Duck (film)
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| Howard the Duck | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Willard Huyck |
| Produced by | Gloria Katz |
| Written by | Steve Gerber (comics) Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz (screenplay) |
| Starring | Lea Thompson Jeffrey Jones Tim Robbins Ed Gale Paul Guilfoyle and Chip Zien as the voice of Howard T. Duck |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Richard H. Kline |
| Editing by | Michael Chandler Sidney Wolinsky |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 1, 1986 (USA) |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Howard the Duck is a 1986 film produced by Lucasfilm and Universal Pictures, directed by Willard Huyck from a script by Huyck and his wife Gloria Katz. It starred Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, and Chip Zien as the voice of Howard. It was inspired by the Marvel Comics characters Howard the Duck and Beverly Switzler created by Steve Gerber, although their appearance and portrayals almost completely ignored their source material.
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[edit] Plot
In the film, Howard was brought to Cleveland by a laser experiment gone awry, which also summoned an evil alien spirit called a Dark Overlord of the Universe intent on destroying the Earth.
Besides Howard (who was portrayed by an assortment of stunt actors in a duck suit), the only character borrowed from the comic book was Beverly Switzler, though in this version she became a rock singer. The film was widely panned and was a box office bomb, but it renewed enough attention on the character for Marvel Comics to keep using the character on occasion. It also still gets television showings on RTL 2 and VOX in Germany, TVE2 in Spain and the occasional screening in the UK on satellite broadcasts.
The character of Beverly was originally offered to then-unknown singer Tori Amos, but the offer was retracted when Thompson expressed interest. At the time, Amos was the lead singer in a rock band.
Steve Gerber told Starlog that he liked it better than any other Howard the Duck script that he had not written. He has retracted this statement numerous times.
As for my comments at the time about the film script, well -- to put it bluntly, I lied. I was hoping against hope that the script and the movie itself weren't as bad as I thought they were. Or at least, that they wouldn't be received as badly as I thought they would. I hated most of the movies coming out of Hollywood at the time, and the ones I hated most turned into box office blockbusters. I didn't think my own tastes were a reliable indicator of what the public might want, so I tried to say nothing that would discourage people from seeing the film.
Sadly, the HTD movie was one of the few instances in which my taste and the public's coincided. [1]
[edit] Trivia
- Many lines of dialogue in the film are derived directly from Bill Mantlo's magazine scripts, in particular, the "Duckworld" story that Gerber has often spoken out against.
- In an episode of The Golden Girls, Rose comforts a man who admits to being a primary backer for Howard the Duck.
[edit] Soundtrack
Despite the fact it flopped in theaters, the film alongside its soundtrack remains a cult 80s classic with music composed by synth wizard Thomas Dolby. It is considered a cult classic and highly collectable. The original score was composed by John Barry.
The tracklisting for the original release was as follows:
- Hunger City (04:12) Performed by Dolby's Cube featuring Cherry Bomb (lead vocals: Lea Thompson)
- Howard the Duck (03:55) Performed by Dolby's Cube featuring Cherry Bomb (lead vocals: Lea Thompson, background vocals: George Clinton, guitar: Joe Walsh)
- Don't Turn Away (05:05) Performed by Thomas Dolby, Harmonica: Stevie Wonder
- It Don't Come Cheap (04:46) Performed by Dolby's Cube featuring Cherry Bomb (lead vocals: Lea Thompson, guitar: Joe Walsh)
- I'm On My Way (02:55) Performed by Thomas Dolby
- Lullaby of Duckland (02:28) (John Barry)
- Journey To Earth (02:42) (John Barry)
- You're the Duckiest (02:09) (John Barry)
- Ultralight Flight (02:58) (John Barry)
- Beddy-Bye for Howard (02:46) (John Barry)
- Dark Overlord (05:30) (John Barry)
Also, on some B Sides of some of the album singles, an alternate version of "Don't Turn Away" was released with vocals entirely by Lea Thompson and this version is the same as the one featured in the movie.
Another notable song is the "Howard the Duck Megamix", a remix of the album track, and which was released as a B Side.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Marvel films on Marvel.com
- Description of Howard The Duck (The Film) at LucasFilm.com
- Howard The Duck: Misunderstood Mallard fan site
- Howard the Duck at the Internet Movie Database
| Marvel Comics films | ||
|---|---|---|
| Live action | Single films |
Howard the Duck (1986) • The Punisher (1989) • Captain America (1991) • The Fantastic Four (1994) • Man-Thing (2005) • Ghost Rider (2007) |
| Franchises |
Blade: Blade (1998) • Blade II (2002) • Blade: Trinity (2004) |
|
| In development |
Iron Man (2008) • Wolverine (2008) • Magneto (2009) • Luke Cage (TBA) • Namor (TBA) • Ant-Man (TBA) |
|
| Animated | Single films |
The Invincible Iron Man (2007) |
| Franchises |
The Ultimates: Ultimate Avengers (2006) • Ultimate Avengers 2 (2006) |
|
| In development |
Doctor Strange (2007) • Teen Avengers (TBA) |
|
