Down and Dirty Duck

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A 1974 animated film. Catching the bandwagon of Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat, it's very influenced by Underground Comics. It was directed by Charles Swenson and produced by Roger Corman, with animation by Murakami-Wolf Production Company.

It tells the story of Willard, a sexually frustated blue-collar worker who is taken on a "raunchy adventure" by a duck, a character evolved from the producers' previous work, the Dental Hygiene Dilemma in Frank Zappa's Two Hundred Motels, which also shares Flo and Eddie (Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman) as stars (the duo voice the two main characters).

Don't confuse this with Bobby London's comic Dirty Duck. It has nothing to do with it. London hates this movie for this reason, as this movie has caused confusion by leading fans of London's comic to believe this movie was an adaptation of his work (which it is not), and also fans of Fritz the Cat to accuse London of ripping off Fritz the Cat.


Tropes used in Down and Dirty Duck include:
  • Actor Allusion: Willard asks the duck how he became a duck, to which it replies: "Well, I was a turtle for a while, but that wasn't going anywhere. Then my mother gave me the chance to be a duck, and I sort of flowed from there." Kaylan and Volman were members of The Turtles and later became members of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. During the scene, Zappa's head rises in the horizon like the sun.
  • Call to Adventure: Willard is rescued from his miserable life and taken under the duck's wing, going for a sexual adventure.
  • Funny Animal: The duck
  • Name's the Same: Widely known as Dirty Duck, even though it's not the actual title of the movie (the print bears the title Down and Dirty Duck). Thus it is confused with Bobby London's underground comic Dirty Duck, even though this movie is not at all based on that comic. London says that this was intentional.
  • Odd Couple
  • Shout-Out: The duck says, "I saw Two Hundred Motels! I know who I am!" Also, see Actor Allusion above.