Lord Love a Duck | Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld

Lord Love a Duck | Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld | What's It All About?

DVDs:

Lord Love a Duck

	Lord Love a Duck Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld MGM (Video & DVD), 2003 average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

You can't always get what you want unless, of course, you've got Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave on your side! Featuring outstanding performances by Roddy McDowall, Tuesday Weld and a supporting cast that includes Lola Albright, Ruth Gordon and Harvey Korman, this "hilarious" (Variety) satire on teen excesses is "superbly comic" (Los Angeles Times)! With a special gift for manipulating the outcome of any situation, high-minded high schooler Mollymauk (McDowall) sets out to helpbeautiful new girl on campus Barbara Anne (Weld). Trouble is, Barbara Anne wants everything,and Mollymauk's "help" is making a mess out of everyone's livesincluding hers!

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Flawed, Highly Recommended

Hey-hey-hey! This "crazy" film helped me stay sane. KTLA TV in Los Angeles used to play it on a semi-regular basis in the bleary-eyed hours of the morning. That's when Lord Love a Duck first did its magic and made me see the light. Of course, since then, it's been on VHS and DVD (with a bonus auto-bio on director George Axelrod), so now there's no excuse but to put aside everything and see this movie now.

Just off the top, there's nothing quite as satisfyingly bent as the father & daughter go cashmere sweater shopping sequence. It defies print. For that achievement alone I would give the film 5 stars! Fortunately though, there's lots more to appreciate.

As much as I LOVE "Love a Duck", it does have its flaws. The comic momentum sags a bit in the middle, especially the lead-up and suicide committed by Barbara Anne's mother. That's where the smart and darkly-styled comedy veers into staid drama. And mixed-genres do have way of going afoul (or a-FOWL, in this case). But this was Axelrod's first go as a director and there are way more gains than losses here. His anarchistic approach is, after all, consistent with the theme and persona of lead character Maulymuck, played by McDowall.

When discussing movies, I often recommend that people see this film and they almost never know what I'm talking about. Lord Love a Duck falls undeservedly off the radar. I think this is due to its unique but worthy quirks which seem to broadside people's expectations. How do you place LLAD in term of its' antecedents or influences on other films? --best not to. Its humor is spread subtly and not hung up on a single peg. It's not that easily "branded" -- the most overused buzz-word of the last decade.

The Lord Love a Duck soundtrack by Neil Hefty is a great find too, if you can fish it out of Ebay.

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What's It All About?

What's it all about? That's a good question. Perhaps the insignificance of our mercenary aspirations as we get older compared to just enjoying life when we are young and innocent is what director and writer George Axelrod had in mind. Roddy McDowall brilliantly plays the man of wisdom way beyond the youthful body that hosts his knowledge of what is truly important in our lives.

McDowall, Weld and Gordon salvage this disjointed mess

This movie tries to be a brilliant satirical comedy, but it fails almost as often as it succeeds -- and a few of the failures are downright painful to watch. E.g. the scene of a father lusting after his daughter, to the point of moaning and drooling, tries to be funny, or bizarre, or something, but comes off simply as what it is: horribly creepy and perverted.

Also, the direction in this film isn't just bad, for the most part it's non-existent. Fortunately with Weld, McDowall and Gordon at the acting helm, the lack of direction isn't fatal.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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