Howard is a duck living in Duckworld, a planet where the dominant species evolved from ducks instead of humans. One evening Howard is sitting in his favorite chair watching some television when he is hurled into space and transported to Earth. Howard lands in an alley next to a grunge nightclub in Cleveland, Ohio. Howard ends up saving a young woman named Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson) from a couple hoodlums intent on nefarious objectives. Feeling sorry for him being stuck in the rain, Beverly takes Howard home and befriends him.
The next day Beverly takes Howard to her friend, Phil Blumburtt (Tim Robbins), to try to find a way to get Howard back to his home planet. Phil works at the Natural History Museum and Aquarium. When Howard finds out that Phil isn’t much more than a glorified bottle washer, he becomes disillusioned and leaves. Striking out on his own, Howard tries to find a job. Once again, he becomes disheartened and wanders the city. Eventually he ends up back at the club where Beverly and her band, “Cherry Bomb”, are playing. Howard confronts the band’s manager, Ginger Moss (Tommy Swerdlow), about how he is treating the band members, especially Beverly. A fight ensues. Howard wins. Howard and Beverly reunite. Howard becomes the group’s new manager.
Phil shows up with two scientists, Dr. Walter Jenning (Jeffrey Jones) and Carter (Miles Chapin). He informs them that he found out how Howard ended up on Earth. He tells them that an instrument called a laser spectroscope was invented by Jenning. Jenning works at the Dynatechnics Lab. The laser was being tested when it went haywire grabbed Howard and tossed him to Earth. Jenning believes that the test can be reversed, and Howard sent back to Duckworld. Unfortunately, a malfunction in the process transports something evil to Earth. Dr. Jenning ends up possessed by an alien entity that claims to be a warlord from an alien civilization that plans on using the spectroscope to bring other alien warlords to take over Earth.
“Howard the Duck” AKA “Howard: A New Breed of Hero” was released in 1986 and was directed by Willard Huyck. It is an American science fiction comedy superhero movie. The film quickly tanked at the box office.
It’s not something I would actively seek out to watch. It’s also kind of stupid with lots of bad jokes. It does have a lot of fight scenes and car chases but it’s still a talking duck. What I found strange is that the first Marvel comic book character that was used on a full-length theatrical movie was Howard the Duck.
Ed Gale was the main guy in the duck suit and Chip Zien did the voice of Howard the Duck but there were also 6 other people and puppeteers that helped bring him to life, Jordan Prentice, Tim Rose, Steve Sleap, Peter Baird, Mary Wells and Lisa Sturz.
Richard Kiley has a cameo as narrator of the cosmos. There is also a touch of stock footage of Mel Blanc’s voice doing a duck voiceover. Lea Thompson, who plays the lead singer in the group Cherry Bomb, did all her own vocals. There is also a couple of Wilhelm screams sprinkled around. The film was nominated for seven Razzie Awards and won four of them.