Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, Jeffrey Jones, David Paymer

George Lucas must have been eating animal “Quackers” the day he decided to follow-up his phenomenal “Star Wars” trilogy with the ill-fated “Howard the Duck”.

Based on a comic book that nobody-had-ever-heard-of, the special-effectsy (well, of course) comedy came, saw, but most definitely didn't kick ass – that's a “Ghostbusters” gag for the two or three reading - when it arrived, without much fan-fare, in the Summer of 1986. In short, the “Duck” was roasted by Ferris Bueller – also on release at the time – at a highschool BBQ before it could even prove it's ability to lay a half-good egg.

So what went wrong? And why did George Lucas decide to bring to the screen one of Marvel Comics lesser-known characters?

Personally, I think Lucas just wanted to beat everyone else to the finish line – he wanted to be the first person to put a film based on a 'Marvel Comic' in theaters. He obviously didn't think much more about it, or spend too much time pondering it's viability, because the result plays like a rushed, poorly-thought blunder from start to finish.

Like all good head-scratching camp blockbuster-wannabes of the Reagan-era, “Duck” went on to become quite a cult favourite (up until now, it's hardly been available – many have scoured ebay for dodgy VHS copies) playing at late-night film festivals and becoming the subject of Internet fan sites that brand the film 'ahead of it's time'. These fans seem to think that “Duck” was always intended to be odd and play campy – I dunno. Somehow I think Lucas was aiming a little higher than “Batman & Robin” when he took out a second mortgage on the farm to finance the thing.

The film, featuring a who's-who of the 80s film world including Lea Thompson (fresh from “Back to the Future” at the time), Tim Robbins (just off “Top Gun”), Jeffrey Jones (hot from “Ferris Bueller's Day Off”, in which he played the smarmy principal) and David Paymer, fixed on a Duck (mind you, a Dark who acts like a human – he watches the duck equivalent of the 'Playboy' channel for starters) who finds himself transported to Earth. Once there, he teams with a-human-he-will-later-make-love-to (!) (played by Thompson), to protect his new home from the evil Dark Overlord.

This is quite an, er interesting film. I don't hate it, in fact I'm really intrigued by it – it's such a wild beast, but you can't say it's a good movie. I can only imagine the looks on the kids faces in the theaters when they first saw the film – I'm sure there would have been enough looks of bewilderment to fill a senate.

Not surprisingly, Lucas doesn't provide commentary for the DVD. In fact, nobody was available when this DVD went into production.

Rating :
Reviewer : Clint Morris