A satire of teen-age tribal customs in Sunny Sixties Southern California, George Axelrod's Lord Love A Duck was a flop at the time of its release in 1966, despite raves from cult critics like Andrew Sarris and Manny Farber, and a strangely mixed response from Pauline Kael, who claimed “Lord Love A Duck is the best American comedy of 1966, and yet it's mostly terrible.” Critics are beginning to rediscover Lord Love A Duck, as witness this recent assessment by Film Comment editor Richard Corliss:

“Every scene in Lord Love A Duck goes on past the point were disinterested parody ends and obsessive revelations are exposed. Today, the film has an uncompromisingly modern look to it, from the plastic people to the smoggy monochrome of the new Hollywood sky.”

In his original Village Voice review, Andrew Sarris stated:

“Lord Love A Duck marks the directorial debut of George Axelrod with a bang rather than a whimper.... his script for Lord Love A Duck is by far the best thing he has ever done... the funniest comic ensemble since the palmiest days of Preston Sturges. Comparisons have been made with Dr. Strangelove and Lolita and What's New, Pussycat? and The Loved One, but Lord Love A Duck has them all beat by miles on the laugh meter....”