| Duck | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Nic Bettauer |
| Written by | Nic Bettauer |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Distributed by | Right Brained Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $300,000 |
Duck is a 2005 American drama film by director-writer-producer Nic Bettauer. It stars Philip Baker Hall. The film is a dystopian view of the then-near future of 2009.
Following the death of his wife, Arthur Pratt is on the verge of taking his own life. However, after he has finished burying his wife's ashes at a nearby park, a duckling crosses his path. Noticing that the duckling is all alone, Arthur decides to help it find its brace. Unfortunately, they find its brace has been killed while crossing a road. In sympathy, Arthur takes the surviving duckling to his apartment, where he bathes and feeds it. No longer on the verge of suicide, Arthur commits himself to raising and taking care of the duckling, whom he names “Joe.”
After falling behind on his rent and because his retirement home does not allow pets, Arthur is evicted from his apartment and banned from the premises. Arthur returns with Joe to the park where they first met and is "transformed" into a full-grown duck. There, Arthur picks up the litter he finds and offers it to a waste collector, who informs him that the park is used as a landfill and will soon become a construction site for a shopping mall.
Workers from a septic and sewage service arrive to drain the pond on which they are living. They try to chase Joe away, but Joe has not learned to fly. The workers then start throwing rocks etc. at Joe, and Arthur comes to his rescue. Following a quarrel with the workers, the fire department, members of a psychological evaluation team, the city's animal control and finally the police, Arthur and Joe leave the park for good and set out on a new journey.
During their wandering, Arthur and Joe cross paths with a variety of Los Angeles denizens, including: Norman, a blind man on his way to the beach and his guide dog Trisha. Leopold, a homeless man to whom Arthur gives a pair of socks, a man who is also on the verge of suicide because he knows his girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend, and a pedicurist whose husband was killed in Vietnam and who has moved to the United States looking for a better life for herself and her daughter.
Joe and Arthur make their way to a bridge where Arthur decides it may be best that they go their separate ways. Joe doesn't want to part from Arthur, but Arthur leaves him anyway. Joe then jumps off the bridge, and quacks in fright upon landing on the creek. Noticing the creek is full of toxic waste, Arthur once again rescues Joe. Arthur apologizes to Joe for abandoning him, telling him "I'd die without you, Joe."
Arthur and Joe finally arrive at the beach and are reunited with their acquaintances Norman and Trisha. The film ends as the four of them walk companionably along the shore.
According to The Boston Globe , Joe is portrayed by the Aflac duck. [1] However, it was later revealed in 2011 that about twenty ducks played Joe. [2]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 50% of 18 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.3/10. [3] Metacritic rated it 53/100 based on seven reviews. [4] Lisa Nesselson of Variety called it "a small, affecting road movie peopled with sharp vignettes". [5] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Bettauer has a lot of serious things to put across about survival in the big, unfeeling metropolis, and while her modern-day fable obviously has Capra-esque intentions, the maudlin results cry out for a better focused, more sharply executed plan of attack." [6] Gary Goldstein at reel.com rated it 1.5 stars, saying "Duck is a turkey" and "Bettauer's made a tedious, groan-worthy picture notable only for the bigger issues it attempts—and fails—to successfully explore than for any real entertainment value." [7] The New York Times said "it tries too hard" and "ducks aren't all that endearing". [8] Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe said that Bettauer "strikes a very uneasy balance" between playing for tears or laughs. [1]
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group, since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water.
The mallard or wild duck is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males (drakes) have green heads, while the females (hens) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent purple or blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is 81–98 cm (32–39 in) and the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing 0.7–1.6 kg (1.5–3.5 lb). Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes.
The wood duck or Carolina duck is a species of perching duck found in North America. The drake wood duck is one of the most colorful North American waterfowls.
The mandarin duck is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is sexually dimorphic, males showing a dramatic difference from the females. It is medium-sized, at 41–49 cm (16–19 in) long with a 65–75 cm (26–30 in) wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus Aix. 'Aix' is an Ancient Greek word which was used by Aristotle to refer to an unknown diving bird, and 'galericulata' is the Latin for a wig, derived from galerum, a cap or bonnet. Outside of its native range, the mandarin duck has a large introduced population in the British Isles and Western Europe, with additional smaller introductions in North America.
John Robert McCloskey was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He both wrote and illustrated eight picture books, and won two Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association for the year's best-illustrated picture book. Four of the eight books were set in Maine: Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine, Time of Wonder, and Burt Dow, Deep-water Man. His best-known work is Make Way For Ducklings, set in Boston. In longer works, he both wrote and illustrated Homer Price and he illustrated Keith Robertson's Henry Reed series.
"The Ugly Duckling" is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection, with three other tales by Andersen in Copenhagen to great critical acclaim. The tale has been adapted to various media including opera, musical, and animated film. The tale is an original story by Andersen.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is the largest of the many reflecting pools in Washington, D.C.. It is a 2,030-by-167-foot rectangular pool located on the National Mall, directly east of the Lincoln Memorial, with the World War II Memorial and Washington Monument to the east of the reflecting pool.
The Pacific black duck is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the grey duck in New Zealand, where it is also known by its Maori name, pārera.
Make Way for Ducklings is an American children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941 by the Viking Press, the book centers on a pair of mallards who raise their brood of ducklings on an island in the lagoon in the Boston Public Garden. It won the 1942 Caldecott Medal for McCloskey's illustrations, executed in charcoal then lithographed on zinc plates. As of 2003, the book had sold over two million copies. The book's popularity led to the construction of a statue by Nancy Schön in the Public Garden of the mother duck and her eight ducklings, which is a popular destination for children and adults alike. In 1991, Barbara Bush gave a duplicate of this sculpture to Raisa Gorbacheva as part of the START Treaty, and the work is displayed in Moscow's Novodevichy Park.
The Ducktators is a 1942 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short directed by Norman McCabe. The short was released on August 1, 1942, and satirizes events of World War II. The title is a pun on dictator.
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The Ugly Duckling is an animated short film by Walt Disney, based on the 1843 fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was directed by Jack Cutting and Clyde Geronimi, and released in theaters on April 7, 1939. Music was composed by Albert Hay Malotte, who was uncredited for the film. The animated short was first distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, and was shown with Love Affair.
Nancy Schön is a sculptor whose work is displayed internationally in museums, libraries, universities, private collections, and public outdoor spaces. She is best known for her work in Boston, Massachusetts titled ”Make Way for Ducklings”, installed in 1987 in the Boston Public Garden.
The Ugly Duckling and Me! is a 2006 animated film directed by Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich. Intended for a family audience, it is a modern adaptation of the 1843 fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen. The Yorkshire Post described it as a "feel good" film for family audiences. The film follows over a rat named Ratso who has a dream about having his own family. The life changes when an egg falls out of its nest revealing an ugly duckling with brushy wings, and he soon becomes a father. It also won an award at the China International Cartoon and Digital Art Festival. The film initially premiered in Denmark on April 6, 2006.
Howard Jerrold Zuker, known professionally as Zack Norman, was an American actor, comedian, film producer, and art collector. Norman is best known for his acting role as the sidekick of Danny DeVito's character in 20th Century Fox's Romancing the Stone (1984). As an art collector, he sold a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece for a then record-breaking $110.5 million in 2017.
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The Foxy Duckling is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies color cartoon short directed by Arthur Davis. The short was released on August 23, 1947.
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary is a 2017 American documentary film, written and directed by John Scheinfeld.
Yorkshire Island is a small island in the east end of Lake Ontario, off Prince Edward County. It is part of a chain of islands, including Stoney Island, Galloo Island, Main Duck Island, and Swetman Island and Timber Island, the False Duck Islands. It was acquired by Parks Canada, in 1977, to preserve as nature preserves.
