Product Details

• Actors: Harvey Fierstein, Sharon Stone, Melissa Etheridge, Ed Asner
• Format: Color
• Language: English
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: HBO
• Run Time: 39 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000I4G14C
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,922 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New York Times REVIEW from September 14, 1999, August 15, 2007

By 

Diversity Lover "sunmusic" (Midwest USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sissy Duckling (1999) (VHS Tape)

The Fable of a Duckling Who Went His Own Way
By Walter Goodman

Harvey Fierstein, the bard of ''Torch Song Trilogy,'' delivers a fairy tale. That does not represent a coming-out from the literary closet (he has never been one to conceal his predilections), but it is a sort of cross-dressing. His latest offering, a fable called ''The Sissy Duckling,'' is modeled on Hans Christian Andersen's famous ''Ugly Duckling.''

Elmer, the spunky hero of this animated fable, is by no means ugly; he's cute and something of a smart aleck, but the other ducklings pick on him because he's no good at baseball. Elmer prefers to play with dolls. His father, the sort of duck dad who hangs around watching sports on television, despairs of him: ''He's no son of mine.'' The voice belongs to Ed Asner, that tough duck.

Elmer laments that he wants to be like all the other ducklings, but ''considering my options,'' baseball isn't in his future. His supportive mother tells him not to worry about name-calling but to follow his own heart.

It will surprise few viewers of whatever age to learn that Elmer turns out to be no sissy. Confronted by cold weather and duck hunters, he comes through heroically. When a sacrifice is called for, Elmer doesn't strike out.

The narrator, Sharon Stone, keeps insisting that like all of us, Elmer is ''different.'' That is, we are all unique, or as she says at one point, ''most unique.'' You get it. Even daddy duck gets it by the end of this short show.

The bright animation includes a duck ballet; the songs, rendered by Mr. Fierstein and Dionne Warwick, are determinedly edifying (''Listen to Your Heart'' and ''There's No One Exactly Like Me''); Elmer's dialogue is snappy.

Homosexuality is never mentioned, and the only people who are likely to be upset by this tribute to ducklings who march to their own non-macho drummers are the anti-gay, family-values quackers. When Elmer sings, ''I play by my own set of rules,'' it is enough to send William J. Bennett into a stew.

THE SISSY DUCKLING
Executive producers: Donna Brown Guillaume, Meryl Marshall, Williard Carroll and Thomas L. Wilhite. Libby Simon, producer. Anthony Bell, director. Written by Harvey Fierstein. Narrated by Sharon Stone. Spencer Proffer, music director. Carole Rosen, executive producer for HBO. A co-production of Two Oceans Entertainment Group, Confetti Entertainment Company and Hyperion Studio Entertainment.

WITH: The voices of Ed Asner (Father Duck), Dan Butler (Drake), Andy Dick (Abner), Melissa Etheridge (Mama Duck), Harvey Fierstein (Elmer) and Estelle Getty (Mrs. Hennypecker). Songs performed by Mr. Fierstein and Dionne Warwick.

5.0 out of 5 stars It was the cutest ,sad,funny and enjoyable short movie., July 11, 2010

By 

ANA M INTROSSI - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sissy Duckling (1999) (VHS Tape)

Today I sat with my 51/2 year old granddaughter to watch this short movie on HBO, I so loved it,my granddaughter even was teary eye over it we loved it,and thru-out the movie we were both very connected as to everything that was going on ,she later remembered everything about it and wants to see it again it was terrific,then the song by Dionne ,we so loved it, that I'm keeping it to watch many more times..
thank you

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sissy Duckling, June 9, 2009

By 

Michael A. Hess - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sissy Duckling (1999) (VHS Tape)

Nine years ago I saw this at the Chicago Gay Film Feastival, Reel,and was touched. I'm so thrilled to find this.