A long, long time ago (well, the 1980s) in a galaxy far, far away (Cleveland, Middle America) 'Lucasfilm's' Howard T. Duck was beamed to Earth via an experimental Laser Spectroscope.Unceremoniously snatched from his home planet; a place not dissimilar to Earth in that Howard smokes cigars, reads 'Playduck' magazine, carries his Mallard credit card and, like a feathered Charlie Wilson, bathes with loose ducks in his bachelor pad, our pint sized hero has no idea what the duck is going on and has to adjust to his new life in a real duck-out-of-water story. 'Howard The Duck' (1986), an infamous box office flop at the time, isn't executive producer George Lucas's finest hour, though how you couldn't warm to a movie that sees a talking duck romance a sassy rock chick (Lea Thompson of 'Back To The Future' fame), take her band (the memorably named 'Cherry Bomb') to the top, crack wise with a bumbling scientist played by none other than Tim Robbins(we've all got to start somewhere) and stop an alien Overlord invasion with the help of an armoured golf cart, is beyond me. Is 'Howard' a misunderstood cult classic, or a cinematic pariah justifiably shot to smithereens like its pixelated brethren on Nintendo's light gun phenomenon: 'Duck Hunt'? 'Howard The Duck' was a film of firsts for me; it was the first time I fully grasped the concept of lesbianism, and not by some PC awareness group shtick, but through the introduction of a butch biker gang dubbed 'The Slut Sisters'. 'Howard The Duck' also taught me that one shouldn't harbour an instinctively prejudicial attitude towards the concept of inter-species copulation, specifically between randy drakes & consenting adults, after all, the effects of dimorphism and eclipse plumage on aspiring rock stars with big-hair is an unknown factor in science, for Howard T. Duck and Lea Thompson's unique arrangement seemed to blossom into a healthy, if unorthodox, relationship. And who are we to judge?...incidentally, this film was aimed at 8-10 year-olds (is it any wonder it crashed and burned, or why George Lucas threatens legal action against anyone who brings it up in an interview?). 'What is, what was and what will be starts here' threatens its new, unnecessarily ominous, tagline; as if Howard were some kind of ornithological, midget messiah come to Earth to spawn a new world of human-duck hybrids, personally, I prefer 'A Breed Of Hero'. There's quite a bit of fun to be had with this movie, and notwithstanding some of the more questionable elements I've mentioned above, it's a perfectly safe, if overtly nonsensical, comedic comic book adventure that's watchable in the right frame of mind and should appeal to its new target audience: Nostalgia fans and retro kitsch aficionados. I doubt studios would let anyone get away with making something like this nowadays, for its a triumph of self-conviction over common sense, a film made with the best intentions that never quite found its true market, and though with the benefit of hindsight, we know cinema wasn't very popular in the mid-80s and Howard, like a lot of movies, waddled its way back into the black on VHS. Not great, not aw-fowl, some good one-liners and nice SFX from 'ILM': For nostalgia purposes only.