The Disastrous History of Howard the Duck

PRIMARY INFORMATIONAL SOURCES:

VIDEO & IMAGE CREDITS:

(In Order of Appearance, non-online links are in videos end credits)

[wotterthose]

"Make sure it doesn't look like Donald Duck"
*proceeds to just draw Donald Duck*

[Stereo]

when i was little i found this movie deep in my grandma’s library of tapes, and because she had so many old disney cartoons i naturally thought it was a disney movie and popped it in. after watching it and understanding absolutely zero percent of the jokes i decided it was my new favorite movie ever because funny puppet duck. when my parents were driving me home the next day, i decided to tell them about this hilarious new movie i’d discovered. my parents were SHOCKED and told my grandma to get rid of the movie, put the tapes up where i couldn’t reach them. and made me ask whenever i wanted to watch a movie. this led to a weird mandela effect where whenever i mentioned howard or the movie my grandma and parents INSISTED that no such movie or character existed and told me i must have been thinking of daffy or donald. eventually i was convinced because looking back i thought “well even if everyone was lying to me a movie that bizarre could never exist anyway, right?” then one day i saw it playing at a movie theater that played old movies and my uncle said “man, howard the duck. that movie was WEIRD.” and then it all came back to me and now i have trust issues

[samuelsolomon]

Given the origins of Howard and the direction of his character and series after getting his own comic, I couldn't help but think, "gee, kinda sounds like deadpool is today, " and now I can see why so many people were fighting to get this movie made.

[PetProjects]

26:32 Dan Aykroyd saying "I'm f***ing telling you, it's PG!" needs to become a meme.

[henryapplebottom]

Can we all take a moment to appreciate:
Howard the duck CANNONICLY HELPED TO DEFEAT THANOS.

[imaginationmind]

Wait, you forgot one last appearance of Howard the Duck. In the Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout Howard, the duck has a few lines at the exit queue. I know because I work at the ride

[stormevans]

"Life is too short to work for people like that" What a quote, what a guy that Robin Williams was.

[cryogenesys]

I worked on Howard the Duck, ( ILM Miniature effects) we had fun making it, but the difficulties were apparent, CGI wasn't up tot he task at that time, and the animatronic keep reminding me of a Teddy Ruxtpin doll - I think if it were made today, it would have done much better. Interesting side note - one of the Bikers in the opening scene is Flash Hopkins, CO-founder of Burning Man.

[retropalooza]

As a credited gaffer on this movie set i must say this was such a disastrous production. I specifically remember the camera ops arguing with directors and the producers arguing with the production house fir money to feed us. I remember sleeping in the back of a pickup truck with four electricians for over a week under a bed cover, like a 5 man casket. Then u wake up and went to hell. By the way the two different written scripts went two way one was Howard the duck, the other was turned into suburban commando with hulk hogan

[thomasjohnston]

In the United Kingdom, one of our most revered critics Mark Kermode is a big big fan of the Howard the duck film and still defends it to this day. He also loved Hudson Hawk and told to this to Richard E Grant who told him he was an idiot

[bordello]

Yesterworld videos are like Kubrick movies. They don’t come around often but they’re always worth the wait. 😊

[sinjin]

I always love when Lucas shows up in any interview post Star wars. The man just looks and sounds like someone ran over his soul with a car.

[hoagietime]

My uncle was in the art department for this movie, I think he was a scenic painter. I remember he screened it for all the kids at a family reunion when it came out on VHS, I'm pretty sure everyone was horrified and it was turned off halfway through

[erinmatthews]

“Life is too short to work for people like that.” As always, a brilliant statement from the late great Robin Williams.

[ectofriend]

I'm a legit HUGE fan of the original Howard the Duck comics. They're such this weird anomaly of pop culture that was super popular and beloved for a shot bit of time, but not in a fad way. So hearing about what this movie COULD have been and all the trouble it went through is oddly upsetting. We almost got a super cool movie out of this.

[shannahshubert]

I must be one of the few that enjoyed Howard the Duck back in the day up to today. It will always hold a special place in my heart and I will always indulge in the nostalgia of it.

[MarcHendry]

Roger Rabbit could easily have gone this badly too. But at least they had the foresight to test out the animation and effects techniques before committing to the full thing

[blastinus]

I appreciate that Siskel & Ebert were familiar enough with the source material to understand precisely why it didn't work. It really seems like they did their homework on this one. Unlike the suits who ruined it.

[mikeytoolica]

I absolutely loved this as a kid, and I think people are crazy for trashing it. If I ever catch anyone trashing it again, you will learn how well quack-fu works. I would still watch it today

[Scott.Sandifer]

10 year old me loved it. Watched it every time I saw it on cable. Still think of it fondly.
But never once have I mistaken it for "good."