Howard the Duck
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen “Howard the Duck” in it’s entirety, and when I was younger, I’ll admit it– I enjoyed it. The thing is, I can’t really pinpoint why I enjoyed it, thinking about it now. I think a big part of it was a crush on Lea Thompson that had been aided the previous year with “Back to the Future,” but going on 30 years later, that film’s a genuine classic. Released in 1986, “Howard the Duck” was a turkey from the start.
The first thing I’m stunned by in watching this film again is how risque it is for a PG-rated movie, the benefit of having George Lucas as an executive producer, no doubt. There’s an awful lot of sexuality and other adult content for a movie targeted at family audiences. Granted, it’s not “Fritz the Cat,” but by the time Thompson’s Beverly and Howard are in bed together, it’s impossible not to think that not only Lucas and co-writers Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck (who directed the film) got away with something, but also that the film represents another example of MPAA absurdity in terms of giving out ratings.
That’s primarily during the film’s first half, though, when Howard is mysteriously beamed from his far away planet to Earth, and specifically, Cleveland, Ohio, where he runs into Thompson’s Beverly, a struggling rock musician who takes Howard in. The back half of the film becomes a sci-fi adventure comedy as Howard goes on the run when scientists try and get him back to his planet, and then one of the (played by the always eccentric Jeffrey Jones) becomes the host of a ruthless alien ruler who is looking to take over the Earth with his brethren. Only Howard, Beverly, and their blundering scientist friend, Phil (Tim Robbins, a long way from his acclaimed work in “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Mystic River”) can stop the attack.
Watching the film in it’s entirety for the first time in almost 30 years, it’s obvious that the only thing that really stuck with me about the film, which is a tonal mess as it goes from “fish out of water” comedy, film noir melodrama, and kooky sci-fi adventure, in the intervening years was the risque stuff with Thompson’s Beverly– again, she was a total crush of mine growing up, probably my first one, when I think about it. Her performance is okay (probably the highlight), and she has as good of chemistry with the people who brought Howard to life (especially Ed Gale and Chip Zien, who did the voice) as one can have, under the circumstances. In the end, though, the effect she has on my hormones is the only reason I can see myself ever watching this fowl, unfunny, chaotic mess of a movie again, except to show it to people as a cautionary tale of what not to do when making a film.
