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An Odd Little Movie

hille2000 | USA | 02/10/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really don't know what to make of this movie. It seems like an allegory of changing events that were occurring exponentially during that fragile time smack in the middle of the decade of the 1960s. Being photographed black & white it has a feel of some of those high school teenage movies made during the 1950s. However we see many influences from the year it was released in 1966. For instance we see teenage girls clad in bikinis on a beach behind the film's credits. The film also suggests that it may actually be taking place in the near future by some of the set designs found in the high school and in a scene where Roddy McDowall is being psychoanalyzed by a female psychiatrist. Overall the film has a strange feel to it. Even the score by Neal Hefti was not typical of the work he was doing in the 60s. Hefti's score seems to be making some comment on society norms in general, specifically that they shouldn't be taken too seriously. This directly reflects Roddy McDowall's sentiments. And that's where this movie is so odd. Is it a comedy, a parody or is it trying to make some series statement on where we were headed as a country? This movie almost has a "Twilight Zone" feel about it. Tuesday Weld's character seems like she's going to languish in mediocrity. Roddy McDowall seems bent on changing here course for loftier pursuits. McDowall initially seem benevolent. As the movie unfolds McDowall becomes displeased with Tuesday Weld's love interest and he seems bent on undermining here. After a while you begin to wonder if the McDowall character is a figment of the audience's imagination. Or even more challenging is the possibility that the entire story is taking place in the mind of McDowall. For an odd little quirky film it is somewhat disturbing because it is just so unclear what the message of this film is."

The Funniest Movie You've Never Seen

David Perry | 09/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you haven't seen "Duck", you have no idea what a treat you've missed. This way-ahead-of-its-time, outrageous black comedy has held up amazingly well, despite it being made 35 years ago. Tuesday Weld (in what is arguably her best performance) plays an "Everygirl" with a somewhat mercenary edge, Roddy McDowell plays her best friend who will do anything to please her-ANYTHING.The action centers around Consolidated High School in Los Angeles, a school so "progressive" botany is called "Plant Skills"; and where the only way Tuesday Weld can be accepted by the popular girls is by joining something called the "Cashmere Sweater Club"The movie skewers the youth culture, Southern California, sexuality, teen romance, public education, so effectively and hilariously you would think it was made yesterday. My favorite line: "Honey, in this family, we don't divorce our men, we bury them"."

One of the oddest (yet funny) movies ever made

Robert Moore | Chicago, IL USA | 02/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The only way I can imagine this movie got made was that some Hollywood executive who was completely confused and clueless about what would appeal to younger viewers in the sixties agreed to allow this very strange George Axelrod film to be filmed. In a vague way, it seems almost to be an updating of FAUST, with Roddy McDowell as Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave playing Mephistopheles to Tuesday Weld's Barbara Ann. Through all manner of devious means Mollymauk brings Barbara Ann's every dream come true. Viewers are either going to love this or hate it. I showed it to my daughter, and she thought it one of the strangest films she had ever seen. And so it is. It is one of those films, like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH or THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T that seems too off-the-wall for anyone to have agree to finance it. If you are feeling like something different, and completely unlike anything else you have ever seen, you could do worse than give this film a chance."

Great dark comedy-not loved enough.

skipmccoy | Los Angeles, CA USA | 09/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This really is one of those cult comedies that doesn't seem to have enough people singing it's praises. Roddy Mcdowall and Tuesday Weld are marvelous here. Almost everything I've read about it declares it ahead of it's time and I agree 100%. Hats off to George Axelrod for being quite funny and inspiring!"