Howard the Duck
Short description
Howard the Duck is a science fiction comedy about a duck from another planet who is pulled to Earth by a laser experiment gone wrong. He lands in Cleveland, where he is taken in by Beverly Switzler, the singer of a rock band. A scientist, Dr. Walter Jenning, was responsible for the experiment and tries to send Howard home, but the attempt misfires. Instead of returning Howard to his own world, the beam lets a hostile alien being through, and Howard must deal with the consequences while looking for a way back.
The film was directed by Willard Huyck, who wrote the screenplay with Gloria Katz; Katz also produced it. It was Huyck's second feature as director, following Messiah of Evil in 1975, and it was made by Universal Pictures with Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment. Lea Thompson plays Beverly, Jeffrey Jones plays Dr. Jenning, and Tim Robbins appears as Phil Blumburtt. The duck is performed by Ed Gale, Tim Rose and others, with Chip Zien providing the voice.
Released in August 1986, the film had a budget of about 37 million dollars and took in roughly 38 million worldwide, a weak result against its cost. On IMDb it holds a rating of 4.8 from around 54,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.5 from about 1,178 votes. A critics' rating of 3.9 from 86 reviews places it below even the modest audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- A more accurate translation of the original title is “Howard the Duck.”
- Lea Thompson performed all the songs herself, as did the other actresses in the band. In an interview for the 2009 DVD release, Thompson says that even during filming, the studio hadn't made a final decision about whether to keep Thompson's original voice or dub her.
- Howard the Duck is the first character from the Marvel universe to be adapted into a full-length feature film shown on the big screen.
- Howard the Duck was created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik and first appeared in the comic Adventure into Fear #19 in 1973.
- Executive producer George Lucas spent $2 million on Howard the Duck's costume, and eight different actors worked inside it.
- In the 2009 DVD re-release of the film, the “main” Howard was initially played by a child, but he didn’t finish filming. The bulk of the key scenes were performed by short actor Ed Gale, whose name is listed in the credits.
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