What the DUCK?! 'Howard the Duck' (1986) Movie Review

Barkey tackles one of the most notorious movies from the Technicolor DayGlo Era, the 1980's. "Howard the Duck" (1986) had everything going for it, but it was among the biggest flops in movie history. Barkey takes a look the movie in which Lucasfilm laid an egg. Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, and Tim Robbins star in this bizarre duck tale based on the Marvel comic book character.

00:00 "Howard the Duck" (1986)
00:56 What is "Howard the Duck" (1986) about?
02:45 The comic book origin of Howard the Duck
03:27 A huge flop
04:22 The cast of "Howard the Duck" (1986)
05:17 Is "Howard the Duck" (1986) any good?
06:00 The problems with "Howard the Duck" (1986)
09:00 George Lucas and "Howard the Duck" (1986)
09:16 Barkey's score and final thoughts

See Barkey's review of "Baby" (1985) here:

Barkey reviews more movies from the 1980's here:

[fad]

I'm a huge fan of the original Howard the Duck comics. I remember getting mocked for liking Howard back then. At least the movie has its fans nowadays.

[michaelbeacom]

Hey, it was on YOUR Wish List! Remember " Be Careful what you Wish For"? Heh. I'll send you a better disc next time.

[jeremyusreevu]

This is one of my favorite movies. In fact, it's the first film I ever reviewed!

[Launchpad]

At least James Gunn helped Howard escape from Kathleen Kennedy's grasp A second time, but still had to work under Kevin Fiege.

[zeusbacchushades]

I loved this movie as a kid (I even read the novel and comics)

[stillaboveground]

I went to the theater to see this, but I ducked out after 20 minutes.

[rogermorris]

I saw this in the cinema at the just the right age to give me a major crush on Lea Thompson.

[manewland]

I've seen this one several times over the years. It was certainly ... something, all right. (Thanks, as always, Barkey).

[WarDog]

Michael's a good friend. Shame on you, Mike!😉 There are two good things about this movie: Lea Thompson in her nightie and the monster in the climactic fight, one of the more horrifying monsters I have ever seen, and I mean that *sincerely*. Only the one in _Virus_ was scarier.

[Great_White_Shork]

Lea Thompson in her undies was my favorite part of the movie.

[kali]

Howard The Duck. If you've never read the comics (and I didn't read a lot of them), the movie is just odd. If you have, they've taken lots of liberties. Howard is a wonderful character in the comics and in many ways an audience surrogate. None of that is in the movie.

If you are forced to remember that sex offender Jeffrey Jones is in the movie, it's more disturbing than intended. And that's keeping in mind that there's a sorta sex scene between Beverly and Howard. Yes, I know they're an item in the comics, but we don't see them in bed together!! Lea Thompson is cute, however, and she's a pretty good singer. Tim Robbins is so very obnoxious, and you would not believe from his performance here that he would become a major - and very talented - star.

Personally, I didn't mind the animatronics that made up Howard, and Ed Gale is a talented suit actor. For the time, it was believable. Chip Zien's voice is okay, but he really needed to be more sarcastic and smarmy to fit everyone's impression of the character. The two of them made it work, I guess, but it could have been so much better. The Dark Overlord did look utterly ridiculous, and I wonder if all the money just went to the duck suit and the Overlord was an afterthought because you had to have a monster alien in these kinds of movies.

I still can't imagine how George Lucas could think this would be his next big hit after The Empire Strikes Back, but if they could have made Howard a lot closer to his comic counterpart, it would have made a far better movie. But Howard is kind of an antihero character, and that probably was beyond the thought processes of Universal back in 1986. Comic book characters had to be lovable then.

[hishamnct]

You can review Krrish ( 2006 ) Superhero from India

[doberg]

Go figure, they did not follow the source material (they never seem to learn their lesson).

[mikesilva]

No no no no no this movie was so creepy 😮😢

[carsonpeterson]

Did you think it’s as bad a stinker as it is technically I personally would just say it’s at best a guilty pleasure but still a bad film regardless even if it’s one of the few enjoyably bad ones unlike the likes of battlefield earth, mortal kombatt anihilation, showgirls and alone in the dark