# Howard The Duck movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350 "2017-11-01T00:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![escaped](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@escaped](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/escaped)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/1 "2017-11-01T00:40:46Z")
Whats your opinion of the 1986 Howard duck movie? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/2 "2017-11-01T00:44:14Z")
I remember seeing it in the theater and immediately forgetting about it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/3 "2017-11-01T00:47:25Z")
I saw it in the theater in '86. Silly, funny, and Lea Thompson was really hot. I haven’t seen it again since; I have to imagine that it didn’t hold up well, at all. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/4 "2017-11-01T00:48:06Z")
Got it from the library on VHS, 20 minutes into it, I’d had enough. An insult to ducks everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/5 "2017-11-01T00:50:42Z")
Yuk, why did they ever do that? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/6 "2017-11-01T00:55:04Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I remember seeing it in the theater and immediately forgetting about it. I also saw it in the theater. In addition to remembering Lea, I vaguely remember the villain in it (Jeffrey Jones with glowing eyes?). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/7 "2017-11-01T01:05:45Z")
Not as bad as it’s reputation, but not particularly good, either. The comic book was great, but the movie didn’t come near to capturing it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/8 "2017-11-01T02:30:15Z")
The comic book did a lot of satire of the comic book genre and other aspects of pop culture. It wasn’t Swift but it was reasonably intelligent. The movie dropped all this and based their humor on puns. The positive notes were that Lea Thompson was indeed hot in this movie (and she still looks good). And I recall that the monster was well designed for its time (although I just watched a clip and, unlike Thompson, the effects did not age well). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/9 "2017-11-01T02:46:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I saw it in the theater in '86. Silly, funny, and Lea Thompson was really hot. I haven’t seen it again since; I have to imagine that it didn’t hold up well, at all. Same, except I have seen it since and I can confirm it does not hold up well. I was too young to understand the criticisms when it came out, to me it seemed to fit into the echelon of _Goonies/Gremlins/Short Circuit_ that it was superficially a part of, but in reality it is a misfire on almost every level. Indeed, some argue so are _Goonies_ and _Short Circuit_. I know what they mean, but they are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/10 "2017-11-01T04:34:11Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Same, except I have seen it since and I can confirm it does not hold up well. > > I was too young to understand the criticisms when it came out, to me it seemed to fit into the echelon of _Goonies/Gremlins/Short Circuit_ that it was superficially a part of, but in reality it is a misfire on almost every level. I was in college when it came out, and was big into Marvel comics. I knew that the Howard comic book was tongue-in-cheek, and wasn’t expecting anything approaching a serious movie. So, it didn’t disappoint, from that standpoint. On the other hand, it was also the first movie that George Lucas did after Return of the Jedi, so _that_ did probably set some unrealistic expectations. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/11 "2017-11-01T04:48:41Z")
I seen that when I was 11 the same day I seen flight of the navigator and sone of the jokes were funny at the time … a few years later when I seen it on cable it wasn’t … ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/12 "2017-11-01T04:59:08Z")
I enjoyed it as a kid but no, it doesn’t hold up. It’s a pretty bad movie. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/13 "2017-11-01T05:00:15Z")
Having seen it, I was able to get a joke in a Marvel stinger nearly thirty years later. That’s about the best I can say about it. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/14 "2017-11-01T08:56:46Z")
The main problem (among many) with the movie is I couldn’t get over Howard’s voice. When I read the comics, I always imagined him sounding like Walter Matthau. The people who made the movie obviously thought differently than I did. ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/15 "2017-11-01T10:04:51Z")
Holds up poorly. Its a bad movie, but I’m not convinced it deserves its status as one of the archetypal bad movies, alongside The Room and Highlander II. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/16 "2017-11-01T11:08:19Z")
I watched it again after Guardians of the Galaxy, so my memory of it should be pretty good, and yet the fact that I can’t seem to remember much is probably the main message. From what I can recall, I think I recall a few moments that made it clear that the movie was made before sexism stopped being an overt thing in American film. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the specific examples, but I think that was my only lasting takeaway from seeing it as an adult. Otherwise, I think it’s just a bland movie. Despite having a duck main character and ending with a giant monster battle, somehow none of it is very memorable. The action isn’t very actiony, none of the humor is very funny, the romance isn’t romantic, the characters are flat, etc. And, on the other side of things, it’s not bad enough to be any good for heckling or making fun of. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/17 "2017-11-01T11:17:08Z")
Fun, but odd. I wish I had the Soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/18 "2017-11-01T11:47:25Z")
It is to movies what the Star Wars Holiday special is to tv and Yoko Ono is to music. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/19 "2017-11-01T12:01:50Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > It is to movies what the Star Wars Holiday special is to tv and Yoko Ono is to music. Okay, it’s bad but it’s not _that_ bad. But there’s nothing in it to recommend it, either seriously or ironically. [Neither good nor “so bad it’s good”, it’s just overall bad](https://xkcd.com/653/), Ms Thompson’s beauty notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howard-the-duck-movie/800350/20 "2017-11-01T12:43:42Z")
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