Ah, Howard the Duck, that glorious, ambitious mess of a movie that could only have hatched in 1986. This wasn’t Hollywood taking a bold creative risk on a subversive project, no- this was George Lucas riding so high on Star Wars and Indiana Jones that studios were ready to hand him blank cheques. If George wanted to adapt a niche, subversive headshop 70’s Marvel comic about a chain-smoking water fowl, then by all means, get out the animatronics and the Aqua Net. What could possibly go wrong?
Well… a lot. Between the tonal whiplash and the baffling plot shifts (why does an entire restaurant want to deep-fry Howard?), the film is less a cohesive story and more a string of sketches leading to a showdown with a giant stop-motion dark overlord. But, and here’s the quacker, it’s so insanely out of step with reality that it becomes oddly fascinating… if you look past the commercial tar-and-feathering – or the easy running yokes.
I was already a big fan of the old Steve Gerber Comics back in ’86, and even though it retained very little from that series, I was that rare odd-duck who enjoyed the film upon its release (I was 12 and looking down the barrel of Junior High, so between suddenly crushing on Lea Thompson and Transformers the Movie hitting theaters the following week, it was an emotionally complex summer). I also bought the Marvel Comics adaptation, the bubble-gum cards, and listened to the soundtrack incessantly, so I won’t pretend to have any objectivity about this one. I loved it then and I love it now.
Sure, it ran afoul of critics and famously laid that egg at the box-office – but for my rental dollar, it fits the bill as gonzo big-budget cult cinema, and that’s where I live.
Cherry Bomb 4 ever. – Pop
Howard the Duck crash landed in theaters today back in 1986.