What the duck? BLOG: cinematicexcrem... TWITTER: / smeghead4269 VIMEO: vimeo.com/cinem... (If you can't find an older episode of Cinematic Excrement on RU-vid, it's probably here.)
Funny fact: in a recent comic Howard is hired by Lea Thompson to investigate his own abductions. It turns out that an interdimensional villain has been kidnapping her to made movies based on Howard's life without his permission.
So we have the Garbage Pail Kid version of Donald Duck, Marty McFly's mother and the Principal from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, plus the main protagonist of the Shawshank Redemption. Odd casting choices.
@@BaranoffIsaac It would be really interesting if the two of them teamed up in the next Deadpool movie because then they'd spent most of the movie debating who had a worse first movie.
The Howard the Duck comic books didn't rely duck puns much either. And even when the Howard the Duck comics put out duck puns, it's done in a clever and funny fashion. Howard the Duck comic books actually has great humor. Waayyyy better than the humor in this film.
"This movie could have looked so much better. That wouldn't have fixed the crappy writing but you know at least it would have been good looking crap I guess." Damn that is freakin priceless
Sorry Sean, I thought the duck suit was absolutely stellar. They got a ton of really small, subtle facial movements and expressions out of that thing. In my opinion, it was as equally impressive as the Ninja Turtles in their first film. major props to the animatronics team who worked on it.
FunFact: In 1986, A Movie called Deadly Friend came out by Wes Craven. That film has a ZERO Percent on Rotten Tomatoes and Also Bombed AND WASN’T NOMINATED FOR WORST PICTURE. Not enough? Two other “nominees”, Cobra and Shanghai Suprise had RT ratings of 13%!
Deadly Friend is a guilty pleasure of mine..........................it was pretty cheesy, but it was still entertaining and watchable! (And it also began my crush on Kristi Swanson).
That film was unfortunately reshot following the brain operation scene due to poor test audiences which were mostly fans of Wes Craven’s horror movies and demanded nudity, nightmare scenes, blood and gore.
How did this get a blu ray release while I’m still waiting for Pretty in Pink, True Lies, The Abyss, Ordinary People, Bringing Out The Dead, What About Bob, and Panic Room to get the hi def treatment?!
It weirded me out when I recognized the exhibit hallway with all the taxidermied animals in the movie was actually the California Academy of Science. I’d been in that very hallway on some school field trips and no one at the CAS ever mentioned some scenes from Howard the Duck were filmed there, not that I think CAS staff would actually want to tell visitors lol.
I saw this at a very young age so it grew on me so a few things stood out: -Introduced the concept of sarcasm. -Lea Thompson had a very nice ass. -Made me wish I, too, could blow up traffic with Dark Overlord powers.
Its stupidity is the reason I really enjoy this movie. Ok, Nostalgia is definitely another factor as well. But this is one of my true guilty pleasures. Plus I really loved the music.
The major problem with Howard The Duck came from it's inability to "pick a direction and stick with it". It was all over the place thematically, if they kept the story focusing on Howard and Beverly, then 1/2 way through add in that the government were trying to create a weapon, but it turned out to be a teleporter instead. Then have the "Bad Guy" be the Human in charge of the weapons project wanting to capture Howard to keep his project secret. Adding an Evil alien villain so far into the film's running time was just dumb. Establish the villain early on, going back to them trying to find Howard over the course of the movie and THEN in the third act have them meet. Plus don't have the cross species implied sexual relationship, that was just creepy. Have them care for each other, even love each other, but in a Platonic way.
It gets worse. The comics, or so I've heard, used the premise as a vehicle for social commentary. The writers of this film were like "it's a talking duck, how existential could it be?". They just didn't care! Does this movie look better or worse now, after the divisive reception to the sequel trilogy has restored Lucas's reputation in some circles and how this film no longer has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any Marvel movie, losing out to Fant4stic?
I agree. It would have been easy to stick to the comic book and create one big adventure. You have a wisecracking Howard and in-jokes about the subject matter, which seems popular now. It’s easy and yet they didn’t do it.
@@visionaryventures12 And then George Lucas's next movie after this was Willow, which wasn't awful per se, but seems like a curious choice to follow Howard the Duck with. I know a lot of people like that movie. I wouldn't say I did, but it was worth a watch. What do you think of that movie?
@@BaranoffIsaac Also both are sentient mammals, as I just saw a duck like creature with human boobs taking a bubble bath in what appears to be a modern bathroom... I actually own this movie but I'm kinda afraid to watch it. Not that I'm squeamish or prude but it just looks so bonkers I don't know if I can take it!
Has he not already done Leonard Part 6? Mind you, an hour-long episode displaying all the reasons Bill Cosby being a serial rapist should surprise nobody would conflict with the idea behind this channel... maybe I should get on that one.
I can't believe I was allowed to watch this when I was a kid... The '80s truly were a different time! Also, this movie traumatized teeny-tiny-child-me so much that any time I see Jeffrey Jones in a movie, he is simply "The Bad Guy From Howard The Duck". I didn't even know his name until watching your review.
"...It's stupid." What were you EXPECTING from a film about a cigar chomping, beer drinking DUCK from another world who befriends a singer and saves the world from giant SCORPION LIZARDS? LOL!!! Of COURSE it's stupid...but it's FUN stupid, and a great time if you have the same weird ass sense of humor it reflects...intentionally bad puns, cheesy acting, ridiculous situations...mixed with a VERY good soundtrack by John Barry, impressive effects and very dark humor. I make NO apologies... I LOVE this weird, misunderstood, silly, dark, oddball film. There. I said it. For the record, the real reason the film was live action rather than animated is due to the studio insisting they get it made in time for a summer release...and animation is also more expensive than live action was.
You do realise that the theme substitute played at 5:40 is entitled "Entry of the Gladiators"? Yes, it has carnival connections, but the title seems very much at odds with the scene and the point being made.
Who can blame them? Fant4stic is the manos: The hands of fate of Marvel: BORING,Infuriating and incompetent. Howard is just a "Batman and Robin": Fucking stupid and expensive to a degree you like to make fun of it.
1997residente - As someone once said, Fant4stic isn’t so much a “movie” as much as it is “the artifact left over from the war between a director and a studio.”
Howard the Duck is worse. Way worse. Fan4stic is just boring and a bit silly. The NSA used forced watching of Howard the Duck as a torture device till it was banned in 2001.
This is one of the best movies ever made. How can anyone not like this movie? Ducks had bewbs for no reason. No reason whatsoever. And Lea Thompson was there. And Jeffrey Jones was there. And Tim Robbins. And Lea Thompson. And the Dark Overlord looked like a hilarious version of terrifying. And a hot chick almost fucked a duck. And Lea Thompson was there!
5:09 John Barry produced beautiful scores for a lot of stinkers ("Raise the Titanic" immediately comes to mind), but for "Howard the Duck" I think they just handed him some notes instead of making him watch the movie. "Okay, for this piece we want something that evokes 'knight in shining armor' with a run of two minutes eight seconds, then..." "Why don't I just watch the scene and make my own no--" "NO!!! OH GOD N--I mean, no, it's better this way, trust us." 6:31 If they had animated this turd, it would have been "Fritz the Cat" for tweens. No thanks. 7:45 I would just like to point out that it's an UNWRAPPED condom, in a wallet. He might as well ride bareback. (Fun fact: Howard and Bev did it in the B&W HTD magazine Marvel briefly put out for "mature" audiences--you know it was "mature" because you got to see Bev's tits--and completely destroyed their long relationship. Marvel's B&W mags were a complete sick mess--there's a story in the Dracula magazine that made Drac out to be a pedophile, FFS--and when Marvel released the Howard stories as a trade paperback, they actually altered the artwork to cover Bev's breasts back up. (Steve Gerber would parody the entire debacle in his "Destroyer Duck" comic.) 11:37 In other words, he's Dr. Emilio Lizardo.
A Roger Rabbit type of animation live action blend might have worked instead of putting a duck head on a short guy. Also, the original comic books are actually funny and written with a good deal more intelligence than this movie.
Regarding the inappropriate material in a film that was aimed at families, one wonders if they should even have aimed it at that market. At the time, family-oriented movies not Spielberg-backed tended to be box-office poison. In the month that "Howard" was released (August), all three movies that made it to the top of the box office rankings at some point were R-rated -- "Aliens" (continuing what was ultimately a 4-week run at the top from the previous month), "The Fly", and "Stand by Me". The first two were hard-R movies to boot -- and to add insult to injury, their combined production budgets totaled $30 million, $6 million less than "Howard". When one considers how superb the effects in those movies were (they were the respective Oscar winners for SFX and Makeup), and how audiences had little trouble taking their potentially-ridiculous concepts seriously...one wonders where the money really went on "Howard"!
Yeah, EVERYONE involved in the movie EXCEPT Lea Thompson came to dislike this movie, Cinematic Excrement; maybe Tim Robbins went over the top deliberately... Can't wait until you get to Leonard Part 6...
So...thanks, Howard the Duck? And also...Howard the Duck being an indirect collaboration of MARVEL and Lucasfilms, which lead to Pixar. James Earl Jones who was Darth Vader is also Mufasa of Lion King... HOW DEEP IS THIS RABBIT HOLE?!
1:31 Sure, this probably set back the idea of adapting Marvel movies for years, but around this period, you had Supergirl, this, and Superman IV. Most studios likely lost whatever enthusiasm for comic book movies as viable endeavors. It was a minor miracle that Batman got made just a few years later.
Ouch,1986 was my favorite year for movies: Blue Velvet The mission Hannah and her sisters, Round midnight, Aliens,Mona Lisa, Platoon and my Stallone guilty pleasure, Cobra
Unfortunately it got cancelled. Howard the Duck animated series by Kevin Smith looks amazing and based on the storyline info, it's going to be a faithful adaptation of the Howard the Duck comic book series, which is what the 80's Howard the Duck movie should've done. Howard the Duck comic books are amazing and seeing there's going to be an animated series based on the Howard the Duck comics, I got really excited. Such a shame the idea of Howard the Duck animated series by Kevin Smith got cancelled :(
@@leahcorpora4151 Oh I know, I just think this film might be the reason they'd rather pretend we were literally anywhere else, then just say, "Let's set it in Cleveland..." It's either that or the Tourism Video didn't sell them and we need to make a third one for another 20 million dollars.
I actually love this movie unironically. My dad and I saw this in the theaters and I still love it. Although every criticism you level at it is valid, I'm still a fan. Also, good luck with the next one. I couldn't even make it through that one, although it, like Howard the Duck, has a decent soundtrack.
Except for the fact that it seems to be inaccurate. IIRC, it was said George Lucas was going through a messy divorce around this time and the deal involving selling what would become Pixar happened before this movie came out. I'd have to recheck SFDebris's video on this to be sure.
She was lucky to avoid a Razzie nomination, but then again...I don't think Lea's performance is all that bad. Tim Robbins, though...he had a hilarious minor role in Rob Reiner's underrated "The Sure Thing" opposite John Cusack.
Did anyone watch the blu ray or DVD? Apparently they have interviews and commentaries with Huyck and the late Gloria Katz where they apologize for the film, similarly to what the late Joel Schumacher does on the Batman & Robin Collectors edition DVD & Blu ray/4k.
Steve Gerber was a crazy genius whose efforts for creators rights can not be understated. The original Howard the Duck comics are GLORIOUSLY insane and introduced the world to such batshit concepts like "Dr. Bong", Howard running for president, and a demon made of bubble soap. When Gerber passed away in 2008, the world was that much less marvelous for his passing. Having said that...this movie sucks and I hate it.
In his review, Gene Siskel said that if they had made Howard more closer to his comic counterpart (a cynical, wisecracking Groucho Marx type character), the movie might have worked. Gotta give credit to Siskel for reading the source material. And speaking of which, the original story was meant to be a more grounded story with Howard working as a PI on Earth but Universal president Frank Price demanded it be made into an effects driven event movie similar to 'Ghostbusters' (which had been made during Price's stint as CEO of Columbia before returning to Universal), complete with imitation plot (seriously, the elements are all there), and gave them a very short window to make the movie, leading to many production issues (including Ed Gale having to do all the work after twelve year old Jordan Prentice had to be dropped due to safety and child labour issues). And the effects in the movie are just blah when you compare them to 'The Fly', 'Aliens' and 'Little Shop of Horrors' (both theatrical and director's cuts) that were all released the same year. Also regarding the Overlord puppet, congratulations CGI werewolves in 'Twilight', you're no longer the worst thing Phil Tippett oversaw. Also, Robin Williams nearly voiced Howard but depending on the source, he dropped out either because he didn't want another 'Popeye' on his hands or he and a fellow crew member met up and Williams did his voice while Hyuck was in the middle of a take causing Hyuck to yell at the crew member until realising it was Williams and quickly changing gears leading Williams to turn the role down because of the incident. Plus Robbins also had 'Top Gun' that same year but it was a minimal role.
@@Talisguy In fairness since this film we've got Captain America 1990, all the Fantastic Four films, Daredevil, Elektra, Spider-Man 3, both Ghost Rider films, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Heck if you want we'll pile on Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Amazing Spider-Man movies, and Venom. For how bad Captain Marvel supposedly is, surely it's at least better than a lot of those combined right?
@@Talisguy The stupid thing is that so far, I'm having a hard time finding anyone who likes Captain Marvel on RU-vid, but on other sites I find them quickly. Maybe the "hate" for this movie will cool down. What doesn't help is even most RU-vid critics like Chris Stuckmann and Doug Walker having a So Okay, It's Average reaction to it. Oh well, I will be seeing it on Monday anyway. Regardless of its quality, the controversy surrounding it is complete BS.
