Think of the worst movie that you've ever seen. The 1986 film Howard the Duck is probably worse than whatever you just thought of.
Yet, as a kid, I was drawn to this bizarre live action movie about an alien duck (from a duck world---think of a darker, more adult version of Duckburg from Disney's Duck Tales) visiting Earth (specifically Cleveland, Ohio). I just had to have the Howard the Duck Candy Dispenser that I saw at the Circle K store during a summer vacation in Florida.
This is probably the only toy made for this movie, which bombed big time during its brief run in theaters.
In addition to a person with a puppet head playing Howard, the film starred Lea Thompson and Tim Robbins. They were young, and needed the work.
I cannot believe that I watched this movie on TV with my grandmother in the same room. Howard is one dirty duck.
Howard the Duck (based on a comic book of the same name) was a Universal Pictures movie and the love child of Marvel and Lucasfilm. Now that Disney owns Lucasfilm and Marvel, I guess we could see a new version of Howard starring Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck. But I doubt that will happen. Or maybe it will...
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We (my brother and cousins, and I) loved this movie as a kid. And the Garbage Pail Kid Movie, so I guess that shows you what our standards were. Coincidentally, it was our Grandmother who showed us both movies, or at least she was the one to put in the tape and let us watch. I think she left the room. There must be something about animatronic faced characters that lulls parents into thinking a films appropriate for kids.
ReplyDeleteEric, I think my fascination with Howard the Duck was related to the animatronic face (I never got to see the similar-looking Garbage Pail Kids Movie, though I collected the cards). I had no idea that Howard was a comic book until later. These days, I'm sure there are many grandmothers who let the kids watch Seth MacFarlane's "Ted" because it's about a cute teddy bear.
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