Lord Love a Duck (1966) User Reviews

Strange, super-smart subversive black comedy

[LesHalles · 7/10 · 8 July 2002]

What strikes me most about this film is its intelligence. The main character, nicknamed Mollymauk after a bird, is a genius, with deep understanding of science, martial arts (he can kick ass), psychology (he can manipulate people at will and hypnotizes Tuesday Weld's character), etc.

McDowall plays the main charcter Alan, nicknamed Mollymauk after a South African duck, THALASSARCHE MELANOPHRYS, in love with the popular Barbara Ann (Tuesday Weld in tight sweaters). At times he is shot in profile making his nose look beak-like. He does a great job, and makes the movie believable.

Although it is a comedy, and has plenty of funny moments, what meant most to me was its criticism of a society which fosters selfishness and lacks any authentic empathy, and its portrayal of Alan's deep love for and devotion to Barbara Ann, which causes him to use his almost super-power level problem-solving and social-engineering skills to fulfill her wishes and dreams without expecting anything in return.

The film is great for its insights into human nature and its parody of conventional high school education and of society. It is well worth seeing, but the main character is complex and not completely sympathetic. He screeches and cavorts like a bird, but instead of coming across as wild and beautiful, he sounds twisted and in pain- which he is, like any adolescent who longs for love, intimacy and understanding but doesn't get any. He seems to create a cult about his his own character, often referring to himself in the third person as Mollymauk. His manipulation and control of others is disturbing as well, even though many people treat each other this way, and so the film has a disturbing effect- it's not a "feel-good" movie.

Ahead of Its Time

[JasonS-5 · 7/10 · 26 November 2001]

I put this movie in a category with other slightly anarchic anti-establishment movies such as "The Graduate," "If..." and "The Magic Christian." The only difference is that it pre-dates all of them. Being the first of its kind, its a slightly awkward film that doesn't always know what to do with itself. There are plenty of holes in the plot, and, if its a comedy the dramatic scenes are too strident, if its a drama then it is all done with too much flippancy.

On the whole, though, I really enjoyed it. I don't claim to be an expert on the culture of the mid-sixties, but it tackles a lot of topics that seemed to be taboo at the time, like Marie's death, and their rather self-conscious use of the word prostitute.

The acting is all excellent, I was particularly impressed with Tuesday Weld's performance. I had never really thought of her as anything more than the vapid lead to a bunch of teen movies, but I was really surprised at what a good actress she was. Roddy McDowall is excellent as Mollymauk, but the uneveness of the film doesn't do the character justice, and you get the feeling with a little more work on the plot and the pacing, he could have made the film hysterical.

Anyway, it was a good film, particularly impressive when you think of it as the prototype of a genre of film which is still being produced today.

Los Angeles in its decadent period.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 25 July 2008]

This script about two high-school kids -- one a genius (Roddy MacDowell) and the other a nubile blond airhead (Tuesday Weld). MacDowell, close to 40 at the time of shooting, looks about as much like a high schooler as I do. Weld, on the other hand, reminds me a lot of Irene Revok, this succulent, shy blond who sat immediately in front of me in chemistry class. She was enchanting, had a splendid figure, and a fascinating nape. Oh, how I wanted to bite it. Anyway, the movie has some extremely witty scenes and dialog.

Every dumbed-down trend is punctured. The students attend a new consolidated school in which botany masquerades as "Plant Styles For Life." There is a drive-in church in which people sit in their convertibles, sleeping or getting a tan, and listen to the sermon from the speakers. The congregation is assured that "prayers ARE answered because whatever happens -- THAT'S THE ANSWER." There is also a lecture on "Christian attitudes towards the automobile."

A college boy necking with his girl feels guilty because he lied to his mother and told her that they were going to see "The Ten Commandments." And suppose she asks about it? What can he tell her? He's never seen the movie. The girl scoffs and says she read the book and, though she can't remember the story, she knows that the central idea is "Thou Shallt Not." The Bible as entertainment.

The writer, George Axelrod, has taken an early poke at just about everything that Southern California was on the verge of becoming. Blatant materialism, rabid ambition with no focus whatever, social snobbery, funeral practices, consumerism, anomi, fake marriage counselors. ("Q: Every morning when my husband leaves for work he kisses me on the forehead. How can I get him to kiss me on the lips?" "A: Wear high heels.")

Granted these all seem like pretty easy targets right now, but LA was just entering its phase of cultural discontinuity in the early 1960s. It would be well captured by other films too, such as "The Loved one." And Marin County came in for a few quick jabs in the 1970s with "Serial."

McDowell adopts some silly name and promises to give Weld anything she wants. Well -- first she wants a dozen cashmere sweaters. And MacDowell arranges it so that her divorced father (Max Showalter in a hilarious pop-eyed mode) buys her a pile of such sweaters. McDowell laughs insanely while she models them for him and gurgles out the colors -- papaya surprise, put-me-down peach, glans mauve, or whatever. The two of them swoon and wrap themselves in sweaters, drooling and moaning in a counterfeit climax. It's the best scene in the movie.

It all somehow doesn't quite hang together though. The lovesick McDowell sees to it that Weld has what she wants -- first the sweaters, then a holiday at the beach, then courtship by and marriage to a gloriously dumb boyfriend -- but when it comes to the divorce, "We don't divorce men in our family. We bury them." Half a dozen attempts to off Weld's new hubby fail, so MacDowell goes mad and uses a back hoe with huge teeth to slaughter the guy, along with the principal staff of the high school. There's also the dramatic suicide of Weld's mother, of the type that Emil Durkheim called egoistic, as if it weren't enough for a satirical film to be merely funny.

The message underneath the chuckles is serious enough without the suicide. Tuesday Weld can have anything she wants -- but she doesn't know what she wants. That's tragedy. Some day, after the dreams dissolve, she'll find herself headed in the same direction as her mother because there really is nothing much underneath the froth.

Definitely worth seeing once, just for the off-the-wall goings-on.

[Poseidon-3 · 15 November 2004]

The darkest of black comedies, this odd curio is likely to delight some viewers while leaving others completely cold. McDowall is an odd duck of a high school student (the fact that the actor was 37 doesn't seem to matter in the film's lopsided world!) who fixates on Weld, a pretty fellow student who is used to being popular, but worries about her future at the all new Consolidated High. Soon, McDowall is somehow making every wish of Weld's come true from acquiring a baker's dozen angora sweaters to getting married and beyond! His omnipotent presence is welcome at first, but after a while becomes problematic. The bizarre, but ingratiating film creates a world of its own where fathers melt like butter before their nubile daughters, Principals break pencils in their mouths at the sight of pretty coeds and disapproving mothers-in-law are dealt with through the end of a booze bottle. Actually, these points are some of the most realistic in the film! Try an evangelist who delivers his message through the speakers of a drive-in movie or a house with a living room so cavernous that there's a distinct echo-effect during conversation! Quirky touches abound throughout, some enjoyable (the curvy teens dancing ala "Beach Party", the surreal luncheon with Weld's dad), some not (those annoying glimpses of boom mikes, intended or not.) McDowall (covered in makeup!) gives a strange, but intriguing performance. Weld is infectiously lovely and engrossing. Her hair alone, is deliriously sexy. Albright is wonderful and alternately hilarious and touching as Weld's cocktail waitress mother. Gordon, good or bad, is the Gordon that audiences have come to expect. Korman (in a role that screams for the talents of Paul Lynde) does a decent job as an excited Principal. West is adequate as the hapless guy who falls for Weld and pays the price. The title tune is catchy, though a tad overused. This isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a refreshingly different spin on the teen movies typically seen in the 1960's and a knowing glimpse into the old adage "Be careful what you wish for".

Odd, Offputting Movie

[gbheron · 6/10 · 14 January 2002]

For its first 20 minutes, `Lord Love a Duck' plays like a comedy. It's got a manic, staccato rhythm I associate with beach blanket movies. But a comedy it is not. The protagonist is a high school senior, Mollymauk, played by a very adult Roddy McDowell. A genius and martial arts expert, Mollymauk appoints himself the benefactor of the school beauty, played by Tuesday Weld. Both have their share of emotional problems, and they soon form an odd relationship.

Throughout the movie, there's an ongoing stream of zany events, centered mostly on the lame activities of the principal (a young Harvey Korman) of the kids' progressive Southern California high school. But the sociopathic nature of Mollymauk's support to Weld gives the movie a very creepy undertone, to say the least. This is an odd, difficult to categorize movie and surely must have a narrow audience. I sure didn't understand it.

One of a kind black comedy.

[hotspur-7 · 10/10 · 8 March 1999]

This film is a brilliant black comedy on par with Dr. Strangelove and that's not being hyperbolic. It's incredible that this film is unknown, it ought to at least be a cult favorite. By turns strange, hilarious, bizarre and even moving, if you haven't seen this you should. It is unlike any movie I've ever seen. I first saw it when I was a teenager when it came on an afternoon movie showing. (This was before the afternoon dial was filled up with Jerry Springer and his ilk.) I'm sure at least twenty minutes to a half hour were cut out of it to make room for commercials but I knew instantly this was something special. Something different. Something that touched a nerve where other movies had completely passed me by. And as if that weren't enough, the scene with Tuesday Weld going shopping for sweaters is my choice for the single most erotic scene in the history of movies. Get it. Watch it. Consider yourself a cut above the rest because you are in for something special.

Great, sly mid-60's with Beautiful T. Weld!

[shepardjessica · 7/10 · 7 September 2004]

I never saw this film until the 90's and had heard wonderful things about it and I was glad I found it. Strange, witty, and crazy, it rolls along at a pace that can't be described. Tuesday Weld is beautiful and funny as always and her "sweater-buying" scene is out of this world (especially her nutty father). Roddy McDowall is cool, intelligent and wacked out. Ruth Gordon is a special presence. Harvey Korman adds another classic comic character to his gallery and Lola Albright is touching as Tuesday's cocktail waitress mom.

A definite 7 out of 10. Best performance = T. Weld. I can see why this material would turn some people off, but give it a chance and you'll comic treasures and nifty satire.

"Someday when you're older, you'll understand..."

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 5 January 2008]

George Axelrod's film of Al Hine's book isn't so much a satire of teen culture as it is a skewering of teenage-isms, such as bikinis, cashmere sweaters (in assorted 'flavors'), beach party/monster movies, high school cliques, morally corrupt parents, and the need for mass love. Tuesday Weld, starting her senior year at a new school, is befriended by psychotic pixie Roddy McDowall, who thinks of himself as a magical bird and uses hypnotism on Weld to help her achieve the things she craves. Axelrod, who also co-wrote the script, creates chaos on the screen, and then pushes his camera through it. He isn't spoofing American fads (and our eventual boredom with material pleasures), he's highlighting what he thinks we SHOULD be hostile about--but the trouble is, he's much more angry and corrupt than his central character (she's more like a wide-eyed Alice in Wonderland). Axelrod isn't indifferent--and he's not a innocence lost--but since we don't know what makes the director tick, much of the movie is just a big question mark. It gets off on the wrong foot (framing the story in flashback), featuring far too much of McDowall (acting like Norman Bates' little brother). If this movie didn't sink Roddy McDowall's movie career, it should have: he's smug and insufferable in place of self-confident. Some of the other performances are worthwhile, and Weld has many sharp, knowing moments, yet the film is a crazy-quilt put-down. It leaves you winded. ** from ****

A TRULY brilliant satire on American culture.

[coop-16 · 9/10 · 17 April 1999]

The early nineteen sixties were the great age of black comic satire in American cinema. Everyone remembers Doctor Strangelove and The Nutty Professor and Lolita and One Two Three and The Loved One.In a sense, this neglected masterpiece was the culmination. Even though Axelrod wasn't a genius like Kubrick or Wilder, this film hits its target just as unerringly. Think of it as a darker, much more savage Rushmore, in which almost all the false Gods of our civilization - phony preachers, psychoanalysis, public "education",consumerism, youth 'culture',- are weighed in the scales and found wanting. Roddy Mcdowall and Tuesday Weld give two of the great comic perfomances. Indeed, Mcdowall is inspirational to any would-be anarchist. Should be seen - and discussed - more often. Scorsese once listed this film among his "guilty pleasures": He has nothing to be guilty about-this is wonderful

" Don't worry sweetheart, Molly-Mauk will fix it for you"

[thinker1691 · 7/10 · 16 October 2008]

This is one of those sixties movies which no one paid much attention to it when it first arrived. The story is a much copied one, boy meets girl. Boy does everything for girl. Girl could care less. What is overlooked is the late great Roddy McDowall, plays Alan 'Mollymauk' Musgrave, the brilliant but love starved high school student. He extends so much ease of performance into the part, one accepts him as perfect for the role. He is. Barbara Ann Greene (Tuesday Weld) plays his intended and is surprisingly apt in her role as the pretty but ditsy, featherbrain, self-absorbed girlfriend. There are many films in which McDowall stars in and he is good with both the major role and the bit part. This film allows the bit to become immense. Chasing his dream girl through her wants and wishes, becomes a serious time consuming task and alarmingly dangerous, but for love, Alan sees very little difficulty in the pursuit. When his efforts produce intended and unintended results, the story becomes a macabre exercise in the why of the 'Dark' side of human nature. Here Roddy is in his element as the audience seeks to know the answer as well. Ruth Gordon befriends Alan and unwittingly aids the young lover to a curtain dropping finale. If not a Classic film, this has certainly become a cult picture. Great Movie for McDowall fans. ***

QUACK! Duck Hunting Season Should Have Started Earlier

[Lang Jr · 2/10 · 25 October 2009]

Mess of a film that's part comedy, part drama, but mostly mess. Roddy McDowell plays a brilliant but outcast high-school senior who re-enacts, via a verbal memoir, the peculiar circumstances that brought him to his current imprisonment. Roddy plays confidante / genie to fellow teenager and female lead Tuesday Weld, granting her impulsive wishes, and monitoring the peculiar after-effects. A lot of the time he quacks around like a duck, but the irritation doesn't blossom into anything; it just continues to grate on your nerves.

The film doesn't date well. During Weld's scenes hanging out with her father, I'm sure there was more laughing on the screen than in the audience. It seems very unfunny today. Was it ever funny? I'll admit, there are a few amusing sequences: the Hollywood producer standing in the unemployment line, estimating the millions he'll spend on his next picture, for example. But there's not much else. Harvey Korman as the High-school principal looks like he's auditioning for his role in Blazing Saddles.

Hard to believe that George Axelrod, responsible for this stinker, had written The Seven Year Itch and Bus Stop. Lord Love a Duck belongs to the "I think I'm doing something important" school of film-making, leaving it to the pseudo-intellectuals to comment on its symbolism and over-analyze its message. It is unique, I'll give it that. But that's all it is.

Underrated and years ahead of its time satirically. Hey, Hey,Hey!

[joe_lvn · 10/10 · 4 June 2007]

I first saw this on late night T.V. years ago. I loved the opening music. Only on more serious subsequent viewings did I realize what a brilliant satire this gem was. The skewering of such sacred cows (circa 1966)as beach movies, Balboa Island (which I remember visiting when I was a kid in 1967), "progressive education", and especially psychiatry:"They're supposed to be dirty!!",referring to the ink blots.

Tuesday Weld is a great and unbelievably underrated actress. She should have been in so many more quality films. Roddy McDowell and of course Ruth Gordon are always wonderful. If this movie doesn't have a cult following, I'm shocked. It would be great if a movie were made satirizing today's pop culture (and going much further than "American Dreamz").

I agree that this film,Dr.Strangelove, The Loved One, and The Magic Christian are some of the best and most important films of the 1960's.

A deeply oddball, terrific, one of a kind film.

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 1 August 2011]

Filmmaker George Axelrod described it as 'Love Finds Andy Hardy' meets 'Dr. Strangelove', and that's as good a sum up as any.

Part deeply witty, very dark, surreal satire of American life (very good), part lowbrow wacky comedy (not as good) part parody of the early 60s Beach Party movies (starts funny but burns out), and part serious drama about how screwed up families are (quite strong considering it's in the middle of all the silliness).

Sort of like Kurt Vonnegut in terms of its constant, head snapping shifts in tone.

Roddy McDowell (almost 40 at the time!) plays a high school senior, who is a genius/Puck/gay? figure who gets obsessed (but not sexually) with making the dreams of a hot, seemingly vacuous blond (Tuesday Weld) come true. Both are wonderful.

Along the way there's murder, heavy hints of incest, and lots of other American family fun.

Some of it doesn't work, or feels dated, but terrific when it clicks, and gets big style points for being so brave and unique.

Sort of what you might get if Almodovar made films in the US in the 1960s.

maybe some other time

[screaminmimi · 5/10 · 27 July 2008]

I could only stand to watch the first 30 minutes or so. Apart from its intellectual gifts, all I could say to myself about this was "pretentious schlock." Or, better still, "pretentious, annoying schlock." How many over-acted reaction shots did we actually need of each of the various dirty old men lusting after Tuesday Weld's character (including her character's daddy)? That's what sank the movie for me. Subtle it's not. I suppose if I were in the mood for wretched excess I could have sat through the whole thing. Pity, both Weld and Roddy McDowall threw a lot of craft at it. It looked like they were having fun, too. I may revise my rating upward if I can actually sit through the whole thing in the future. Then again...

Someone said something about it being remade. Oh, please, don't. It's definitely of its period: at the point when the general popular imagination regarding the sexual mores of teenagers in the U.S. was on the cusp of going from Eisenhower-era prudishness to the Summer of Love. I suppose that in 2008 it works as a museum piece, but certainly not as a satirical window on present-day sexual hypocrisy. I think you could get more of that kind of mileage doing something about Henry VIII as serial polygamist and archetypal trophy wife killer.

A wonderful weird little movie that's one of my favorites.

[roarshock · 7 June 2000]

I saw this movie in the theater as an eleven-year-old boy, and maybe once on tv more than two decades ago, and it's always remained one of my favorite flicks. I was ecstatic when my sister finally found it for me on video. And after watching it many many times now, I like it just as much, but find it harder than ever to classify. It has: low production values, a love story, teens at the beach, low-budget hijinks, tragedy, sardonic wit, depth and subtlety, really dark parts of the soul, and a wonderfully catchy-shlockly theme song. But all these elements are so wickedly blended that I'm not always sure what's simply a stupid joke and what is jabbing me roughly in my subconscious. It was written, produced and directed by George Axelrod, who has some weighty credentials, including writing and producing "The Manchurian Candidate", so the movie's superficial resemblance to a very cheap 60s teen flick is deceptive, though it's great fun on that level. But the fun parts always carry jagged unseen edges, and any serious commentary is always done wildly tongue-in-cheek. I can't predict who might like this flick, it is too distinctive to categorize, but if you're the type to gamble on an unknown movie that could become a personal lifetime favorite, check this one out.

Axelrod got there first

[jacegaffney · 7/10 · 26 July 2010]

Making satires about Southern California ethos is like launching a beach ball into the Pacific, or better yet, tripping Michael Dunn. This has always been true. Also true is the Latin saying, "Degustibus non disputatum est" which is to say that some of the most fiendishly aggressive egs. of California comedy, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, THE LOVED ONE (not the book which is comic genius but definitely the wretched movie) and THE LONG GOODBYE (Altman's overrated film is an intentional parody of Chandler) are not funny at all, whereas the old Frank Gilroy-Gene Barry TV show, BURKE'S LAW, James Garner's classic P.I. program, THE ROCKFORD FILES and this wild George Axelrod cult item are. There's no accounting for what some of us find (or do not find) laugh-worthy, but to expand upon the insightful comments already made regarding the picture's deliberately intrusive style - beginning with opening credits of crew shooting scenes that turn up later, visible boom mikes, and subliminal flash cuts of Tuesday Weld's eventual fate as Hollywood starlet - there is something affectionately complicitous about these choices. They provide the film with the degree of innocent unpredictability and silliness to protect it from the charge of pretentiousness. The same goes for the infectiously inane, repetitive theme song. (It's only with the final speech - similar to the one delivered by Sinatra which concludes THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - that Axelrod turns pooh-faced on his audience.)

It's tone is deadly and not serious at the same-time, a paradox which fits the depraved atmosphere aptly. Everything that transpires in LORD LOVE A DUCK is substitute behavior for making whoopee, whether it be eating, drinking, dancing, driving, attempting murder, talking spiritualistic rot and/or simply "sampling" sweaters.

All Hollywood self-send-ups have odd-ball casts. But the ensemble of McDowell, Weld, Albright, Korman, West, Showalter and Ruth Gordon et. al. is the wackiest still on record because they're all gifted second-echelon performers who, quite plausibly, might have been touchy neighbors in real life at the time the movie was being made. They possess an incongruously intimate chemistry in this zany environment.

One other point of interest. Only two yrs. later, the adorable Miss Weld was to play a toxic destroyer again, this time in a movie written by Lorenzo Semple called PRETTY POISON. In it, she plays opposite Tony Perkins; the rapport between them is a little different, but Perkins, like McDowell, falls in love with her too. The result is once again devastating - as a matter of fact for the Perkins character it is far worse. PRETTY POISON is a darker, subtler, more compact, easier to defend picture than the Dobie Gillis on acid antics of LORD LOVE A DUCK, but in terms of knowing how to make best use of Tuesday, Axelrod got there first.

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"An act of pure (self-reflexive) aggression"

[wilsonbond_99 · 10/10 · 24 May 2008]

There have been a number of strong arguments posted on the boards that the many visible boom-mike shots in this film were a simple formatting accident, and not intended as a postmodern commentary on the nature of film-making, etc. I'd like to back up red-666's earlier assertion that they were, indeed, intentional.

The opening credits sequence of Lord Love a Duck is unusual in that it consists almost entirely of scenes from the movie we are about to see. The credits function very like a trailer, both highlighting and undercutting central parts of the story to follow. I think that this device helps to deflate the dramatic aspects of the tale and heighten the satirical ones, already placing the viewer at one remove from the average moviegoer's experience of "being told a story." Intercut with this footage are shots of a film crew doing setups at a beach party. We see light filters being changed, a DP checking his viewfinder, props being moved around. Is this T. Harrison Belmont's film crew shooting one of his infamous bikini pictures? No, it's George Axelrod's film crew shooting Lord Love a Duck! We see Axelrod himself in one shot, along with a drawing of the Mollymauk that Roddy McDowall later inscribes in cement for Tuesday Weld. All these shots are visual cues that what we are about to see is not a standard Hollywood beach flick but a meditation on artifice, role-playing, and storytelling in Hollywood.

Seen this way, the visible boom mikes and patently fake sets in much of Lord Love a Duck begin to make perfect sense as the projected world-view of a man who who saw everything around him as exuberantly fake, delusional, tinsel-covered, and hollow. Welcome to Hollyweird, George! You were one of its greatest bards.

"Mildly amusing, perhaps, but certainly not funny."

[I_Ailurophile · 6/10 · 4 December 2023]

I can't speak to Al Hine's novel, but filmmaker George Axelrod and co-writer Larry H. Johnson whipped up a script full of wonderful, cheeky cleverness. The dialogue and scene writing skewers everything from education and parent-child relationships to religion, contemporary beach movies, pretty much everything about teenage culture, and more. There are plenty of outright gags along the way, and farcical characters that wouldn't feel out of place in a Monty Python bit; the cast so spiritedly embrace the frivolousness that I have to imagine every day on set was more fun than work, especially as Axelrod maintains that energy as director. Rounded out with lovely hair, makeup, and costume design, swell production design, and some fun music, 'Lord love a duck' is built purely for a good time.

There's just one tiny issue, and like some other titles over the years, this is kind enough to tell us itself what that issue is. One line given to Roddy McDowall fairly early in the length turns out to be the best descriptor of the whole: "Mildly amusing, perhaps, but certainly not funny." The flick is, indeed, mildly amusing - why, I'd go so far as to say it's very highly amusing! One thing it never manages to be, however, is a feature that elicits a laugh. Axelrod's movie is filled with superb wit and utmost mirth; even as we're looking at the 1960s, one discerns a kinship with comedies to come of the 1980s, which I think means 'Lord love a duck' is maybe even ahead of its time in some capacity. Yet for as splendid as the humor is on paper, for as much ingenuity as Axelrod and Johnson bring to the proceedings, and for as much vitality as the actors inject themselves, none of it ever specifically reaches a level that excites any reaction stronger than a smile.

I do actually like the film. I rather had higher expectations, though, and I simply don't think the finished product meets them. It's softly enjoyable, yes, and worth checking out. It's also best reserved for a quiet day as something light that doesn't require or inspire active engagement. I'm genuinely glad for those who enjoy the picture more than I do; I just wish 'Lord love a duck' possessed the necessary spark to set ablaze all the abundant flammable material that's primed and ready for a conflagration.

Over-rated,dated black comedy

[theeht · 2/10 · 28 September 2000]

This is one of those films that you hear so much about, and then wonder,upon viewing it, what is it everyone sees in this film? there's no denying that it is one of Tuesday Weld's greatest performances. She combines the adorable, spunky quality of Sandra Dee with the vulnerability of Marilyn Monroe. She's a gorgeous, sexy doll with a rare type of acting ability. But everyone who knows cinema, knows that Tuesday is an under-appreciated treasure. Other than that, though, it's just an annoying, loud, overlong, dull comedy. And speaking of annoying, Ruth Gordon reaches new heights of it here. But watch it and judge for yourself.

The Sharon and Charlie beach party massacre.

[slammerhard · 10/10 · 16 July 2021]

Lord Love A Duck is the cinematic equivalent of Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! Trilogy, full of occult references and some of the funniest scenes ever.

The central theme seems to be that if you sell your soul to the devil you will get everything you desire, the devil being MOLLYMAUK=MOLOCH.

Of course there is a price to success - if you are not willing to sacrifice those around you, you will never reach the top.

The idea of the sacrificial scapegoat is prevalent throughout the film. There are references to Jane Mansfield and Sharon Tate. At some point you will see Sharon Tate dancing with Charlie Manson, and keep in mind this film was made before the Cielo Drive murders.

It's cute, it's sexy, and it's sinister. Its waiting for you to unlock its secrets. If you love this film make sure to check 12+1 , the last film of Sharon Tate, and Pretty Poison, another film with Tuesday Weld that shares a similar theme.

I can't believe this film

[rtestes · 1/10 · 12 September 2007]

I am over 65 years old. I have easily seen 2 movies a day for every day of my life. I have well over 1700 movies in my personal collection, either video or DVD.

As I watched this movie, I thought it was made as a 5 day affair as a tax write-off. How could these actors take part in this, especially Roddy McDowall. There is no justification for the waste of film, even black and white. This is neither a comedy, farce or black comedy, it simply is poor work on every one's part. It would have made more sense for this film to have been produced in the 2000s, a time of mediocrity then at a time when artists still existed.

Where does blame belong? In the director, writer and producer, George Axelrod!

This is the worst picture I have ever seen, period. I can not believe Anyone could possibly give this movie over a two star rating, no matter how fried their brains are. What a sad place, this world has become.

Eccentric spoof of mid-60's culture with Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld

[Wuchakk · 8/10 · 19 May 2018]

RELEASED IN 1966 and directed by George Axelrod, "Lord Love a Duck" is a quirky satirical comedy/drama about a nonchalant student prodigy (Roddy McDowell) fascinated by a fellow senior girl (Tuesday Weld), using his preternatural gifting to grant her dubious wishes. Lola Albright plays the cocktail waitress mother of the girl while Harvey Korman is on hand as the principal. Martin West plays the girl's eventual beau and Ruth Gordon his mother.

This is a wide-ranging satire of teenage culture in the mid-60s with targets ranging from 60's beach flicks to marriage/divorce to progressive education. It's uniqueness and quirkiness is its strength. The closest comparison would be a melding of "Village of the Giants" (1965) and maybe "What's New Pussycat" (1965). The film jumps wildly about from comedy to satire to drama to tragedy to black humor. The only real negative is that it was inexplicably shot in black & white, which is absurd for a mainline pop flick shot in 1965.

McDowall was 36 during filming playing a high school senior, which he pulls off because of his youthful looks and the B&W photography tended to hide his age. His character, Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave, is intriguing and comes across as a mixture of Svengali, Professor Higgins and Faust after his bargain with Mephistopheles. Some have described Mollymauk as a nerd genius. While he's obviously a brain, he's not a nerd because he's too cool, confident and aloof, almost condescending to those he considers lesser than him, which just happens to be everyone, teen or adult.

The tagline for the film is: "It's about a man living in our insane world who suddenly goes stark raving sane and commits mass murder." What brought about the downfall of this extraordinary individual? His obsession with the beautiful-but-shallow Barbara Ann (Weld), whom he had the power to grant every whim, but couldn't make her love him. Being a virtuoso Brainiac in high school, while a gift, is also a curse socially. Alan was helplessly attracted to Barbara Ann, but he knew she wasn't the type of girl that would go for him. Yet she wielded womanly power over him.

While I hate the B&W photography, this is one of the top flicks about 60's culture from that era. Axelrod had a good eye for shooting women with the stunning Lynn Carey standing out as Sally, not to mention several peripheral curvy beauties. No offense to the fair Ms. Weld, but she was the least of these. Lastly, I prefer the kinetic first half to the second, which switches gears into drama, tragedy and black humor. But at least you can't complain that the film's one-dimensional.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 45 minutes and was shot in the Los Angeles area (West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach). WRITERS: Axelrod & Larry H. Johnson wrote the screenplay based on Al Hine's novel.

GRADE: A-/B+

Lord Love the Dreck

[wardomnibus · 2/10 · 4 June 2009]

Watched a wonderful "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" last night on Hulu.com which featured Lola Albright and was reminded of her awesome "Babe-iliciousness"!! Checked the IMDb to see if she was still breathing (and fortunately she still is!). In passing, I glanced at her filmography and noticed LLAD. Thought I'd check out the reviews for this mess just to get a couple of chuckles. I suffered through this movie TWICE while in the Army - once in a post PX theater (had no choice - it was the only thing playing) and, in Vietnam; again, had no choice as it was the only flick in the rice paddy.

I was expecting ratings in the 2 to 3 range with exasperated commentors waxing that this film would be perfect MST3K fodder. Instead, most were in Frank Rich mode proclaiming this masterlesspiece as cerebral satire of the highest order. Oh, please! My take is totally contrary. LLAD is a second-rate "Tweener". By Tweener, I mean that Hollywood experienced a painful period beTWEEN the end of Hollywood's entertainment dominance (around 1958-60) and it's Second Golden Age commencing roughly around 1972 ("The Godfather" got the ball rolling again).

The motion picture biz hadn't yet found out how to combat TV and the America was in the midst of a cultural/social/political revolution (feminism, Vietnam, Beatles, Summer of Love, Drugs, etal). The studios were clueless on how to recapture the magic in this new era - they were desperate and ventured forth in many directions with few hits and many, many misses. Some other classic Tweeners were "Panic in Needle Park", "Casino Royale", "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World", "Doctor Doolittle", "Hello Dolly" to name a couple or five.

Actually, LLAD doesn't really qualify as a legitimate Tweener - it was too minor. But it contained the essential characteristics: trying way too hard to be hip, relevant, trendy, madcap, satirical - and failing on all counts; and I don't not think the booms were intentional. My only pleasant memory of this film (other than "The End") was Ruth Gordon. Even though she was merely doing a warm up for the same wacky, eccentric role in "Rosemary's Baby", she was still endearing and funny.

Oh, BTW, I don't really remember the bunny mom being the luscious Lola Albright. I suspect she had better memories of her fine performance on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" than the pretentious drivel that was (as is) "Lord Love A Duck"........

What a curious movie! Pretty good, if you understand what it is about.

[TxMike · 26 November 2001]

"Lord Love a Duck" is a curious title, a reference to the nickname "Mollymauk" that Roddy McDowall's character took, because it is actually an Albatross, not a duck. McDowall was 40 when this film was made, and in his 55th motion picture. Yet, he plays a brainy, pencil-neck geek who is valedictorian of his high school graduating class. Tuesday Weld, better known for her role in the old Dobie Gillis TV show around 1960, is the cute, young aspiring starlet who is a bit spacy. And Harvey Korman plays the school principal, many years before he became a comedic star on the old Carol Burnett TV variety show.

"Lord Love a Duck" is an intelligent comedy which pokes fun at lots of things - the "teen beach" movies, high school guidance counselors, Hollywood writers and producers, those sorts of things. Tuesday Weld was actually in one of those films, in 1960, "Sex Kittens Go To College." One of the funniest running gags is Mollymauk's attempt to "bury" Weld's new husband - trying to poison him two different times, fixing his car so the door falls off, the seat belt breaks, the steering wheel comes off, the brakes fail, until he crashes through a wall. But he survives, and Mollymauk goes insane at the high school commencement ceremony outside, trying to do him in with a front-end loader.

The film was done in black and white. The boom mike was purposely included in the frame several times. All this to add to the absurdity of the spoof. A fine film from that era, when I was in fact graduating too, but from college. "Reviewers" who trash this film simply don't understand what it is about.

This movie shaped my life

[Denise-6 · 9/10 · 18 September 1998]

I was 12 in 1966 when I saw this movie at the local smalltown theater. I went to see it because the preview looked like it would be funny. I was too young to appreciate the black humor and social commentary at the time. All I remembered until I saw it again years later is that I loved the movie, and I wanted to be just like Barbara Ann, except I would have liked Alan back. I also remembered Roddy in a graduation robe, driving a huge endloader and quacking. Very strange, but I've loved Roddy McDowall ever since. The movie was on TV recently so I had my 14 year-old-daughter watch it with me. Now I get the black humor and social commentary. My daughter got some of it, but she also got a different look at Roddy McDowall, who she mainly knew from Fright Night and the Planet of the Apes movies.