Howard the Duck

How much crack was Lucas smoking during the production of that movie?

also

did Howard have full inter-course with Lea Thompson ?

 

As much as he did when he created Jar Jar Binks and yes Howard did.

 

hey I loved howard the duck. I was a kid ok.

 

"Howard the Duck" is bad. Maybe it transcends badness altogether and becomes something truly awful. Sometimes I think to myself, as is the case with David Lynch's "Dune", "gee, it really wasn't that bad, was it?" - and then I will watch it. It is almost unwatchable. Maybe "Little Indian, Big City" and "Thursday" reside in the "suck zone", but "Howard" sits right at the bottom. My feeling is that Lucas himself enjoys this film about as much as the "Star Wars Holiday Special", although I do recall him stating in an interview some years ago that he liked all the films that he has made/been involved with. Hard to know. Some people seem to enjoy the film, so I guess that "Howard" has a cult following. I am not a member.

 

Hey man its cool but its the truth.

 

HOWARD THE DUCK was based on an obscure comic book series, and it was written and directed and produced by his friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. He went to film school with them, and they co-wrote AMERICAN GRAFFITI with him, and contributed about 10% of the dialogue in A NEW HOPE, mainly the humor. They also wrote the screenplay for INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM.

I think they asked him to get involved in the project knowing that with his name connected to the project, it would get more likely to get financed and produced. These were long-time pals of Lucas, so he helped them out. This happens all the time in the film business.

HOWARD wasn't Lucas's conception, he didn't write the script and he didn't direct. While it's perceived as a Lucas project, his major involvement was having ILM contribute first-rate special effects. Obviously, first-rate effects did not help this lackluster film.

 

> HOWARD wasn't Lucas's conception, he didn't write the script and he didn't direct.

Exactly. That fact seems to have passed the entire planet by.

 

Well but we're here to at least straighten a few people ;-).

 

Interesting.

 

Howard the Duck makes Jar Jar look like an Oscar Winner. Seriously. The movie generally is bad. Torch any copy you can find and send this film from hell back to the abyss. Foul Duck!!! Why do you stain the name of GL?

 

No the movie is not bad in the sense it of some bad movies are today with their pretentiousness of greatness or teenager pandering.

It's bad enough that it's good and it's a good example of some of the cheesiness and innocence plus daring attitude of the 80s. Just like films like Solar Babies, My Science Project, Ice Pirates and Megaforce, and so many others that are just plain fun to watch. Besides the Overlord is one of the best animated characters ever.

 

I've never seen this one. Anyone got a copy?

 

You can get the VHS in several online stores. On Ebay I've seen a DVD version, but me thinks it's a bootleg transfer probably from the laserdisk.

 

Why is everybody so down on Howard The Duck? It's not a masterpiece, obviously, but it's still ten times better than Willow or Labyrinth.

 

I disagree Willow and Labyrinth were better, but I still like Howard because it perfectly embodies some of the silliness of the 80s (anyone remember Solar Babies?).

 

For me, the only other "Duck" film that surpasses "Howard" in sheer awfulness is "The Million Dollar Duck". I guess that "Howard the Duck" can be defended on the level of a guilty pleasure, but certainly not "Solarbabies" - Mel Brooks should be ashamed of himself (yes, I know, he was only a producer, but still). I know that Jason Patric has publicly slammed "Speed 2: Cruise Control", but the film he should be targeting is this mid-eighties clunker.

 

Howard the Duck is cinematic gold. It was not made to win an Oscar..it was made for entertainment. I love it.

 

Howard the Duck

*shudders*

I saw this on TV once. I was only able to suffer through about 10 or 15 minuets of it before shutting it off, and Yeah George must've been of some seriously strong stuff to come up with something this bad.

 

Yeah George must've been of some seriously strong stuff to come up with something this bad.

You are very loosely using the phrase "come up" here. The film was based on a cult comic by Steve Gerber first published in 1973. The makers of the film Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz were old friends of Lucas (they met at Coppola's American Zoetrope and wrote the screenplay for American Graffiti) but needed help making the film made. Lucas became executive producer and put some of the money himself.

So I guess it depends on your definition of "come up" ;-).

 

Ok fine. Just tell men what he was on to get involved with a movie that's THAT bad.

 

As I mentioned, friendship. Or doing things for friends is not a good reason anymore? Lucas and Spielberg have a long tradition of mentoring others as well.

 

I liked it. I can definitely think of worse movies that had more suckage to them. Plus any movie with a scantily clad Lea Thompson gets an A+ from me.

 

I really should see that sometime, even if it is and I bet it is, total crap. I remember seeing the trailer at one point or another. I guess we should be thankful Lucas wasn't more heavily involved in it.

 

yes Malducin, I remember Solar Babies.
Not the best thing Mel Brooks was ever
involved with.

From an earlier post:
Ok fine. Just tell men what he was on to get involved with a movie that's THAT bad.

When he got involved, he didn't know how it would turn out. No one ever does.

There's a fundamental misconception that's present in some of the posts in this thread, and to some extent I see it all over the internet. It's the idea filmmakers KNOW in advance how a movie will ultimately turn out. The first cut of A NEW HOPE was so bad it almost scuttled STAR WARS. And there's many stories just like that in the industry.

Most people making a movie (in my experience and observations) have the best intentions to make the best movie they can. Whether it turns out good depends on many factors including a certain amount of luck and serendipity that is outside of such factors as hard work and talent.

A script to some extent is meaningless and I know for some that's a controversial statement, Yes, of course, we want the script to be good. It's the foundation. But how the script is filmed, the quality of the acting, the flow, the editing, the music, all play a HUGE role as well.

And let's face it, the day George Lucas dies, the first line of his obituary will name him as the creator of STAR WARS, NOT the Executive Producer of Howard the Duck.

 

The first cut of A NEW HOPE was so bad it almost scuttled STAR WARS.

I'm guessing you are refering to the cut Fox demanded because they thought it was a very bad idea to have basically no humans in the first 15 min. of the film. Fortunately Lucas stuck to his guns after seeing how that didn't work.