Independent Films, Film Profiles

Down and Dirty Duck

Down and Dirty Duck, promoted under the abbreviated title Dirty Duck, is an adult-oriented animated film directed by Charles Swenson and starring Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (Flo & Eddie) as the voices of a strait-laced blue collar worker named Willard and an unnamed duck, among other characters. The plot consists of a series of often abstract sequences, including plot material created by stars Kaylan, Volman, Robert Ridgely, and, according to the film's ending credits, various people Swenson encountered during the making of the film. Dirty Duck received mostly negative reviews, with many criticizing it for its crude humor and others seeing the film as an attempt to cash in on the success of Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat. Dirty Duck fared better on home video and is considered a cult film.Lonely, sexually frustrated insurance adjuster Willard Isenbaum decides to propose to the new secretary, Susie, whom he has only known for a day and to whom he has never spoken. He spends the entire morning before work fantasizing about having sex with her, but his attempts to approach her fail. His female boss sends him to investigate a claim filed by Painless Martha's, a tattoo parlor; Martha believes in a Ouija board message saying that she will be killed by a wizard on a Tuesday.When Willard tells her that the insurance company won't pay until her death, she dies of a heart attack. Her will stipulates that her killer must take care of her duck. After the duo spends a night in jail, the duck takes Willard to a brothel. After a wild night of partying, they wind up in the desert, where the duck dresses Willard in women's clothing in an attempt to get a ride. They are finally picked up by a trucker. Back at his apartment, Willard creates a makeshift sex toy, which the duck eats. When Willard discovers that the duck is female, he has sex with her, and he quits his job the following morning.The film features a number of in-jokes. In one animation sequence, caricatures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono pop out of a toilet. In another, Frank Zappa's face rises above the film's main characters as if it were the sun, and, in another Zappa reference, the duck shouts, "I saw 200 Motels! I know who I am!" Kaylan and Volman had performed with Lennon, Ono, and Zappa and appeared as members of the Mothers of Invention in the film 200 Motels, which also featured animation by Swenson and Murakami-Wolf.