The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • 76

Se6tiysi8 The Sail Lake Tribune, Friday, August 1, 19K6 M5 Howard the Duck film sinks instead of swims By Terry Orme Tribune Staff Writer Every summer has its big cinematic disappointment. This summer its the highly-hyped, much-anticipated Howard the Duck." Based on the cult comic book of the 1970s about a duck named Howard Film review iff TOM CRUISE "HAUKUD HONEYMOON iilONMN ilM "JOHN MORRIS feMNCf MARSH MYERS CHRISGRttNEURt xlD MIM W1LMR TlRtNCt MARSH 'xSUSAN MIN -'M MR pG MO SUHSTW An WIWI I PClUwS ewese matwa hoi at sunA.Lt hwcmumm 19M Own Ptctu'M CopoWKn AH RignU RmwwM MANN TMLATAfS (TV 5001 QTJiTOS 'iHl-i'F HIGHLAND DR 278-4711 PARAMOUNT WC'MfiW CORPORATION V- AU. WORT RiS HVbO fcSSTV Co-Hit Ferris Buellers Day Off OPEN 8:45 7:30, 9:35 Lea Thompson Bright spot in dull movie give the feathered little fellow quite a personality. But why so many performers to play one character? Tim Robbins is saddled with the unpleasant task of playing a young, and incompetent, scientist who grates on everybodys nerves, mostly the audiences. Howard the Duck is the brainchild and collaborative effort of the husband-wife director-writer-pro-ducer team of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, whose last project was the less-than-funny comedy Best Defense.

It is a movie which, with all the special effects and car crashes, lends new meaning to the phrase, all style and no substance. You have to wonder how such a movie could have been made the right way. You get the idea that the filmmakers were on the right track in the opening scenes, but soon lost their way. XHoour- St n'aOn MANN THEATRES an W-B inn, OA a aa DAILY IN 70mm 6 TRACK DOLBY 22' STEREO AT 2:45. 5:00.

7:15. 9:30 7:30, 9:20 3092 Daily In 70mm Dolby Stereo At 12 00 2 30 4 45 7 15 9 45 VILLA HIGHLAND DR 278-4711 1:15, 3:00, 4:45 5:40, A fcl WOODS CROSS EXIT OFF 5:00, 7:00 1:30, 3:20, 7:00 A THRILL-PACKED HUMDINGER OF A MOVIE ALL THE WAY. It Is marvelous intelligent, imaginative, funny, and suspenseful at the same time. Rex Reed, NEW YORK POST i i The Adventure Escape Yarn Of The Summer Jeffrey Lyons, I.N.N ROBERT REDFORD DEBRA DARYL Mil ButIDav) excuse who walks, talks and does everything else just like a person, this ce-lulloid Howard the Duck" lacks the charm and originality of the printed incarnation. Instead what we get is cliche after cliche, lines like No more Mr.

Nice Duck. We get attempted parodies of famous lines from famous movies. A sample: Of all the alleys in the world, I had to fall into this one. Its all trite and contrived. It doesnt make you laugh, it makes you yawn.

"Howard the Duck begins on a promising note. Howard, who lives on Duck World, a place just like Earth except instead of people it is populated by ducks, comes home from his new job as an ad copy writer and pops open a beer. The camera pans around his apartment. Theres a poster from the recent hit movie Breeders of the Lost Ark (apparently George Lucas, executive producer of both this film and "Raiders of the Lost Ark, couldnt resist). There are pictures of the duck family, an assortment of drakes, ducks and ducklings all dressed in bow ties and sport jackets and little dresses.

It's all very quaint and cute. When we finally get to see Howard, its a bit of a disappointment. Howard looks like a very short actor in a duck suit. However this little character, with his nifty outfits and cigar, begins to grow on you. And when he is inexplicably jettisoned from his home planet, eventually landing on Earth, and falls in love with a New Wavish rock singer played by Lea Thompson, this movie begins to hit its stride.

Its unusual and radiates an odd-ball charm. Then comes all the special effects, courtesy of Lucas Industrial Light and Magic, to destroy whatever charisma there is. They are outstanding effects, to be sure. But what are they doing in this movie? Theres a demon which takes over the body of a scientist (Jeffrey Jones) who is trying to help Howard. The scientist starts talking like Linda Blair after the devil took over in The Exorcist, and then starts an electrical storm that rivals the finale to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Then theres a tentacled monster that looks like it escaped from Aliens. And theres an interminable car chase followed by another long too long chase involving an ultralight plane. Howard the Duck turns into a hodgepodge, a film comprised of scenes resembling a dozen or so other movies. The bright spots in all this bad news are Lea Thompson as a brash young rock musician who is striving to hit the big time and Jeffrey Jones who jdoes an admirable job under the circumstances of making his nuclear scientist a likable enough fellow. Some eight actors were required to portray Howard.

They do manage to 0 Drey fuss and DeVito star in new comedy ki HOLLYWOOD (UPI) Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito and Barbara Hershey will star in a new comedy Tin Men for Touchstone Pictures, a division of Walt Disney Studios. Dreyfuss and DeVito will play feuding aluminum siding salesmen battling for customers, and Hershey plays the love interest in the lives of both men. Barry Levinson, who wrote the screenplay, will direct the film. DeVito currently can be seen in Ruthless People for Touchstone Pictures, the branch of Disney that produces pictures other than rated fare. LEGAL EAGLES EW COMEDY FROM THE DIRECTOR OF GHOSTBISTERS.

THEN t'J UNIVERSAL Pitta )M6 UNIVERSAL C'TVSIUO'OS INC pgL HmK-TtDTCATMtS MANN THEATRES DAILY AT lDWOC PfDWOOO MANN 6 3 1 3 00.5 20. 7 40, 10 00 ROAD SOUTH 969-MANN DAILY AT 12:45. 3:00, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45 416 4 1 772nd EH 33'd South DAILY AT 12 00. 2 25. 4 50.

7 20. 9 45 DAILY AT 1:00, 3:20, 5:35, 8:00, 10:05 (4 Hilarious Oarer nomination for Streep and Nicholson. wont be able to Kr 1 them or this film out of your hhtem. FVier T.r., IFOPI t. MAGAZINE A --A o.llaborlion of mlurf ArtihU.

il Xm wCrpiCVC the peak of their craft. A triumph! Paul Ait WASHINGTON POST The Best American Movie of the BOSTON Mtefcael HIuwp Cjrvvl llftltf hjgh A masterful team ,11, "ig Ith a aupei-Htar-htruck showpiece. 7 Hm magazine and Nicholson'shemistry i'Tyi Is something to Pw Ijndairom. Jack Nicholson has never been so endearing nhl 'f 1 if 7 V' 1 f'i hr f- 6 i i't" Iterife Navtgatc MERYL JACK STREEP NICHOLSON A MIKF. NICHOLS FILM HewittoMm PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS HEARTBURN -T'NLSTOR ALMENDROS, A.S.C.

NORA EPHRON STi UMIKE NICHOLS and ROBERT GREENHLT -tmike nichols a paramount picture (nerwoBT tm it paiaj nf'nt('0r(ATifjs au w.xn rmeimij WALT DISNEY PICTURES, FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR PRODUCERS SALES ORGANIZATION Picture RANDAL KLEISER Film NEW STAR ENTERTAINMENT Production JOEY CRAMER DAVID JOSEPH teS JONATHAN SANGER MARK DAMON JOHN HYDE MARK H. BAKER MICHAEL BURTON MATT MacMANUS 'T R0BBY WALD-DIMITRI VILLARD RANDAL KLEISER PGpWHJS GUOWO d1 tom MATT MM mi MOT mrr roe IXRSE5 LM) PAHATUOt- CAMUW BY PANJVWON I9IK TV Wu lm I tKX.y STlNto OMnhM ntlfTi Vim OLVratU Ire I'll IHI DAILY AT 1:00. 3 15. 5.30, 7.45, 10 00 NOW PLAYING HPS 'A bam. vr COAAPlf Till StMOOiLEO-NIW OWMR4HIP GLENDALE THEATRE 475-0640 11.5 GLENDALE DR.

(1300 So. 1280 IMOn CIRCUIT IPO) 7. J0 LABYRINTH IPO) 5 JO. 10 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 7:00, 9:00 MANN 5-6-71 4190 HIGHLAND DRIVE 278-4711 1 12:45, 2:45, 4:45 7:00, 9:15 I SOLD AN OLD TRICYCLE AND GOT WHAT I ASKED WANT-ADS 237-2000 SN 1:00,3:00,5:00 7:00, 9:00 in Dib, SQUAR fH hOUTM I flH IA1T i i.