Howard The Duck

Original Movie Poster

Welcome back trusty movie followers! I thought I would take a break from my girly childhood movies and talk about something a little different. See I may be a girl who played with Barbies, My Little Ponies and Care Bears but I also had many male cousins, an older brother and of course my dad so I was subjected to non-female oriented movies and animated shows as well. So besides watching Jem I was also watching Voltron and besides pretending to be a princess I had to be April O'Neill when my cousins or the neighborhood boys played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In fact I believe I was with my cousin Dustin at my aunt and uncle's house being baby-sat when I first saw...Howard The Duck.

Okay for those of you who have never heard of this movie before I discuss the plot you should know that Howard The Duck is considered to be one of the worst movies ever made so bad that George Lucas (yes Star Wars messiah himself) who produced it disowns this movie! Also when I saw this film I believe I was five because I remember watching it on Cinemax so it had been out of theaters for a while and well kids and talking ducks just go hand in hand (remember DuckTales anyone?)

Howard would be Scrooge's disinherited nephew

So...What Is The Plot?
Of course, Howard is a duck but not just any kind of duck...a duck from space! Well actually a planet in another dimension where instead of humans there are walking, talking ducks and they smoke, drink and watch TV... you get the point right? One night an earthquake seems to strike the planet and Howard is ripped out of his apartment by a beam of energy that ends up bringing him to Earth and dumping him in the middle of Cleveland, Ohio (and not the most pleasant part of it either). The first person Howard meets is Beverly Switzler, a young woman who is a member of a female rock band called Cherry Bomb, whom he saves from being attacked by some thugs. She doesn't seem at all freaked out by a talking duck and she helps Howard out by letting him stay at her place telling him she'll find a way to help him get home. Her "help" ends up being lab assistant Phil Blumburtt who isn't much help at all which makes Howard angry since it seems he's stuck on our planet for good.

Tim Robbins as Phil - would you really go to this guy for help?

He tells Beverly off and sets out on his own but Howard soon realizes that if he is going to be here on Earth he may just need at least one friend to turn to and finds Beverly and her band mates playing at some awful bar under the management of the sleazy and disgusting Ritchie. Howard decides to help the girls out which means beating the crap out of Ritchie and becoming the girls' new manager to the amazement of Beverly's friends, one of whom is dating Phil. So our nerdy professor comes back into the picture along with Dr. Walter Jenning who is actually more help because he knows exactly what brought Howard to Earth. Jenning and his colleagues have been working on a dimensional-jumping laser that malfunctioned hence Howard's arrival (Hello Cleveland indeed!) but he believes he send Howard back with one more use. Unfortunately, something else takes Howard's one-way ticket home and descends to Earth taking control of Dr. Jenning and leading, Howard, Beverly and Phil into a whole new world of trouble and wacky hijinks. Will Howard ever get back home or will the new world he calls home be at its end?

The people images were captured from a rumored screening

Believe it or not the plot of the movie doesn't sound that bad if you ask me so I'm not really sure why a lot of people hate this movie or think it's incredibly stupid. Howard The Duck originally was a comic book character that appeared in Marvel (yes those Marvel superheroes shared the limelight with a duck!) Comics and it was a little more mature and political than the movie. I can't really blame the script writers for the adaptation because they did write American Graffiti which is a classic film but trying to make a movie about a talking duck probably isn't easy so I can see where a snag most have come up somewhere...just not sure where exactly...

Jeffrey Jones as Dr. Walter Jenning

Could it be the acting? Well, Jeffrey Jones (famous as Ed Rooney, horrible principal from Ferris Bueller's Day Off) as Dr. Jenning isn't too bad when he is serious but once he (oh hell spoiler!) becomes possessed by our intergalactic villain he does go a little over the top but that's what is great about being the villain- you always get the most ham and cheese on your role (see like a dinner roll?...never mind) to work with and have fun. A young, pre-dating Susan Sarandon Tim Robbins who plays Phil is adorable and hilarious which I enjoy and his career hasn't seemed to suffer for acting jobs since making this movie. The actors who portrayed Howard (yes actors...six of them) had to work in a huge costume that probably got very hot and difficult so you can't blame them and actor Chip Zien who does Howard's voice was cast after shooting to provide voice-over work so he was just reading what had already been written. The only other actor of note in the film is Lea Thompson who plays Beverly and well we all know that she can't be the reason Howard The Duck bombed! Most people today know her as Kathryn Kennish on ABC Family's Switched At Birth which is a good dramatic show or they know her as Marty McFly's mother Lorraine in the Back To The Future films and of course she was awesome in those!

Our main actor and his rockin' leading lady!

If you couldn't guess Lea Thompson is another actress I kinda have idol worship of and why wouldn't I? She's not just a pretty face she truly is talented and when I first saw Howard The Duck I was five in a generation when MTV ruled so playing a rocker almost reminiscent of my number one, true idols Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart was bound to win me over. Thompson has said having her hair styled and crimped like that everyday which took two hours was bad enough to make her wish she had worn a wig but to an impressionable child such as myself I thought she looked so cool! Besides that, Lea Thompson use to dance ballet (something I could and can never do), was acting at age 21 in movies before Howard The Duck and did I mention she can sing? Yes, the soundtrack to Howard The Duck that has songs credited to the fictional band Cherry Bomb...that's Lea on lead vocals? One word: Talented!

Now that I look back I have to take Lea's side on the hair...

Another thing that makes me enjoy Howard The Duck is of course, the music (again I am a late 80s MTV baby so I do enjoy music of this era). While scoring is done by legendary composer John Barry (check out the name on Google and see how many films pop up!) original songs credited to the fictional band "Cherry Bomb" were written and produced by Thomas Dolby. For those of you younger than me did you ever hear the song "She Blinded Me With Science" on like an 80s music channel or oriented radio station? If so, then that's Thomas Dolby and if you haven't, you really should it's quite a good song! As I stated, Lea Thompson's real vocals are on the songs as well as those of the actresses portraying her band mates in the film and the song "Don't Turn Away" is by far my favorite! Thomas Dolby performs his own rendition of the song on the soundtrack too and the harmonica you hear on it? That's Stevie Wonder. Another reason most of us should love (or maybe even hate) Thomas Dolby is he did music for another film that I may discuss in the future...which one? Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (so much childhood nostalgia is just overwhelming my brain with that one!)

Drew Struzan poster art...awesome!!

So is Howard The Duck really the goose egg of a film that people make it out to be? To me the answer is no but it is just my opinion after all. I enjoy the music, Lea Thompson does good with what she is given, Tim Robbins is hilarious, Jeffrey Jones makes a great villain in the fact that he creeped me out as a kid and makes me chuckle as an adult and at times, I find Howard adorable. Now if you have ever seen it, your opinion might be a little more harsh and if you have never had a chance to view Howard The Duck, I'd give it a shot. A little fair warning it is rated PG so it's not really a movie for little kids but how my cousin and I got away with watching it I'll never know...

Howard The Duck Teaser Trailer

NEXT TIME: Not really from my childhood but a good family film regardless. We take our first look into the beautiful world of Japanese animation with...Kiki's Delivery Service

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

It's been awhile since I talked about a musical film in one of my blogs so I thought I would talk about a musical that is close to my heart as I saw it when I was 12 in my very open household. Yes, I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show at a very young age and I loved it and still love it to this day! I hope to some day go to a late-night performance showing of the film and participate but more of why later. First things first...

What's The Plot?
Narrated by a man simply called The Criminologist, we begin with Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), attending a wedding of high school friends and themselves becoming engaged through song. Heading to go and see their high school science teacher Dr. Everett Scott (in his class is where Brad fell for Janet) the couple get a flat tire and go looking for a phone and run across the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a "mad" scientist.

A group of strange people are there for a convention held by Frank who makes his entrance in a glittering cape, heavy eye make-up, blood red lipstick, a corset, fishnets and very high, chunky platforms. This sweet transvestite has discovered the secret to life and unveils his creation: a very muscled, mute, half-brained blond man named Rocky Horror.

When the convention ends, Brad and Janet are shown to separate rooms and soon become seduced by Frank's charm which puts these normally clean-cut "virgins" into a tailspin of debauchery and decadence. Meanwhile, Frank's handyman Riff-Raff (Richard O'Brien) and his sister/lover Magenta (Patricia Quinn), the castle domestic, take it upon themselves to torture Rocky in defiance of Frank's extreme taste for pleasure and soon Rocky happens upon Janet.

Distraught when she finds out that Brad has tasted forbidden fruit with Frank, Janet seduces a very innocent Rocky and they are discovered inadvertently when another guest arrives to the party: Dr. Scott! He is looking for his nephew Eddie (Meat Loaf) who was a lover of Frank's groupie Columbia (Little Nell Campbell) and the other half of his brain was used to make Rocky but he had been killed by Frank earlier that night. A strange night is about to get even more strange with dinner and a show no one is ever going to forget. Can Brad and Janet go back to what they once knew or have the discovered an experience that will change them for better or worse?

If you have never seen Rocky Horror and want to I didn't want to ruin the pleasure of this movie for you with a lot of plot info. To experience Rocky Horror by second hand account really isn't much fun and as I said I want to have the actual audience participation experience one day. That said, let's look at a few details of Rocky Horror that I can tell you about that have nothing to do with plot.

The music of Rocky Horror is an enjoyable romp because before it hit the screen it hit the West end stage of London as an actual musical. Richard O'Brien wrote the music and lyrics for all the songs and each one will get you singing and dancing especially "The Time Wrap" because it has instructions to do the dance in the song! They played this song at my Senior Prom and only a few of us could do the dance and I'm proud to say we were mostly the outcasts and black sheep of high school popularity. If you saw the Rocky Horror episode of Glee even though I don't watch it you know the songs and how good they truly are and maybe that's why you are checking out this blog post of mine.

Moving on to acting most of the cast was from the original stage production including Tim Curry who made his motion picture debut to an American audience. I have to admit that I have always been a Tim Curry fangirl even before I saw Rocky Horror and seeing him in fishnets is something great to see. Tim Curry has always been a debonair and charming actor with singing talent, voice over work and stage roles galore and though he use to be reluctant to talk about this role he now views it as a rite of passage for the viewer's who see it. So in other words, Tim Curry has popped a lot of cherries for Rocky Horror fans. Meat Loaf has a great one-scene wonder performance as Eddie and it is almost a celluloid version of a show stopper that comes after a lot of drama and science fiction before we are whip lashed back into black comedy and drama again.

Barry Bostwick is great as nerdy, innocent Brad and he's not that bad to look at either in fishnets I might add and I can't see anyone else as Brad but Bostwick in 1975 and even today. Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn and Little Nell Campbell have also become icons for me in their own performance of their characters and I don't think I can ever view anyone else in those roles but the day I go to a midnight, audience participation showing and see someone else play these characters I might change my mind. I always put these three characters in a collective grouping because if you watch the movie, they interact with each other a lot.

 Of course I can't go without mentioning Susan Sarandon as Janet because I believe at the time she was perfect for naive and pure Janet and she is the character I can relate to the most. Susan Sarandon has always been a great actress and her portrayal of Janet is why I want to go to a midnight showing so I can go as Janet in costume as most people do!

You are not meant to take Rocky Horror seriously it is all in good old-fashioned campy fun with music, dancing, a movie that the black sheep outsider can like with no regrets and it can bring out the wild and untamed thing in anyone. Rose-tint glasses are required to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show as well as a sense of humor so if you don't think you can handle that then maybe this is not the movie for you but if you have a wild side to you then this movie will be an enjoyment that is oh so sweet...I promise.

Next Blog: A look at some 80s horror from Wes Craven but not what you think - Deadly Friend

Phantasm

So yes this is my surprise blog...a movie I know a lot of horror hounds have seen. There are those of you out there I hope who have not viewed this piece of cinematic, low budget genius so that I can talk about it. It was released in 1979 and had three sequels that I have yet to see because I like Phantasm as a film of its own merit that could have been one of those movies that needed no sequel at all (plus I like movies with vague endings and creepy twists.)

What's The Plot?
Jody Pearson (played by Bill Thornbury) and his friend Reggie attend the funeral of their friend Tommy, an apparent suicide. Because their parents died and he has been having nightmares, Jody's little brother Mike has been asked not to attend...but that doesn't stop Mike from watching the funeral from afar. When Mike sees the unusually tall undertaker (played fabulously by Angus Scrimm) lift Tommy's coffin from his own grave back into the hearse on his own he knows something strange is going on at Morningside Cemetery.

When Mike heads back to the cemetery and enters the mausoleum, he finds himself chased by a menacing silver sphere which then attacks the night janitor (in a gruesome, bloody fashion) and then  by the undertaker he dubs "The Tall Man". When Mike accidentally severs the Tall Man's fingers in a door during his escape, he notices that the blood is a thick, yellow substance...he is not human but just what is he? Mike immediately runs to tell Jody and shows him the fingers, which he brought along to prove his crazy story, so now the brothers know that they have to find out just what is going on at Morningside.

They convince Reggie to help them but he is reluctant until they try to show him the fingers which have now turned into a large fly-like creature! When Jody goes back, he is attacked by a hooded, dwarf-like being and they follow him in the hearse until Mike arrives with a shot gun to stop the vehicle by crashing into a tree. Pulling back the hood, the dwarf is revealed to be...Tommy!!

How can Tommy be back from the dead and what happened to him? Who is The Tall Man and just what is he up to? Mike, Jody and Reggie are now ready to find out in a battle between something... beyond this world.

Director Don Coscarelli (I love that name by the way) provides a very creepy and terrifying atmosphere by setting most of the action in a mausoleum (which I usually find them serene and beautiful) and Angus Scrimm is wonderful!! He's supposed to be intimidating and otherworldly and he does his job well in the way he talks and lumbers his very tall frame...even just standing in one spot he is frightening!! Even though Mike is the main character and Jody and Reggie are important too, I enjoy watching Phantasm mainly for Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man to creep me out...and also because the silver spheres are awesome!! 


It's hard to talk about Phantasm without spoiling the whole film and maybe even the series for you if you haven't seen it but if you have, I think I covered it very well. It's one of my favorite horror films and a stand alone movie...so check it out. 

Phantasm Trailer 


Speaking of checking out...


Next Blog: A little late but ... My Bloody Valentine