Trailer
Plot summary
Howard is a duck as tall as a man, living on Duckworld until an experiment pulls him off his planet and drops him in Cleveland. There he fights off a group of thugs attacking Beverly Switzler, a singer, and she lets him stay at her apartment. The next day she brings him to Phil Blumburtt, hoping the scientist can send him home, but Phil is only a lab assistant. After a stint cleaning a romance spa, Howard returns to Beverly and her band, Cherry Bomb. Phil and two colleagues explain that a laser spectroscope aimed at Howard's planet carried him to Earth, and that reversing the process could send him back.
Cast
- Steve Sleapas Howard T. Duck
- Peter Bairdas Howard T. Duck
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Howard the Duck (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robin Williams worked for a week on Howard's voice before quitting, saying: “I can't get the rhythm of this. I am being confined. I am being handcuffed to match the flapping duck's bill.” Chip Zien was cast instead because the filmmakers felt his nasal voice suited the part.
- The opening sequence, in which Howard's chair is propelled out of his apartment, used wires later digitally erased by a computer, the first use of a technique soon used in films such as Back to the Future Part II, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Matrix.
- Child actor Jordan Prentice was cast in the physical role of Howard, with Ed Gale, rejected for being too tall, hired for stunts and evening shoots. Prentice found the shooting conditions too difficult, editors could not match the day and evening sequences, and Gale took over the role.
- Rumours circulated that Universal production heads Frank Price and Sidney Sheinberg had come to blows after arguing over who was to blame for green-lighting the film. Both executives denied it; Price soon left the studio and was succeeded by Tom Pollock.
- Ed Gale said Mel Brooks hired him to work on Spaceballs on the strength of this film alone, because Brooks had said, “Anybody who's in Howard the Duck can be in my movie.”
