1980 Directed by Robert Altman
Popeye is a super-strong, spinach-scarfing sailor man who's searching for his father. During a storm that wrecks his ship, Popeye washes ashore and winds up rooming at the Oyl household, where he meets Olive. Before he can win her heart, he must first contend with Olive's fiancé, Bluto.
One of the weirdest things I've ever seen. It's barely a movie. It's like Robert Altman made 3 Women and kept looking at Shelley Duvall and saying to himself "God, DAMN that woman looks like Olive Oyl" and then he couldn't get it out of his head and it gave him bad dreams and he was begging his brain, "PLEASE, stop, I don't want to make a Popeye movie!" but his brain just kept showing Shelley Duvall going "Ohhhhhh!" in a high pitched voice and finally Robert Altmans therapist told him to just make the damn thing and he did it to make the nightmares go away... It's fuckin' weird, man.
What a mess......
I loved it?
Like, the set designs and costumes are pretty damn impressive for their time, there's some genuinely funny moments, and some of the songs are pretty charming, but then some of the effects and acting aren't that good, the tone ranges from laid back to devilishly cartoony like it's source materiel, and the plot goes from one area to the next until it just kinda stops......
You know that scene in "20th Century Women" where
Dorothea and William listen to Blackflag and wonder what the hell they're supposed to be listening to?
That was me throughout this entire movie.
(Recommended? I guess?)
((I should watch this high to see what the results would be))
(((This was also my first Robert Altman movie. I'd say I'm off to a good start)))
I can’t decide if the Altman / Disney collaboration to bring Popeye to the screen was entirely misconceived or maybe somewhat wonderful. When I first saw it when it came out, I was leaning towards the latter, but now on a re-watch, I’m perilously leaning towards the former.
I haven’t seen all the classic Altman’s, but of those I have I know that he’s a master of world and character building, and very few are as skillful with an ensemble cast. While I really wanted to love this film on a re-watch, I’m afraid that there are simply too many issues with it to continue to hold my cold cold heart.
The concept is brilliant .. I’m not a comic…
It's probably not too surprising that I always root for the underdog. I always want to find the positive in art that is widely disliked because I think there is merit in the simple act of making art, regardless of its perceived quality.
That being said, there is quite a bit in Robert Altman's heavily panned Popeye that is undeniably great. First and foremost is the set design of the village of Sweethaven and its various ships. Everything is rusted and ramshackle, and it serves as an almost expressionistic background to much of the slapstick shenanigans, jutting out at weird angles and falling apart in the process.
The other huge plus for the film is the casting of Robin Williams…
A perfect live-action cartoon and adaptation of Popeye if you ask me. From the casting to the sets and the overall tone just impeccable. Even the songs aren't allowed to get annoying or intrusive at all. Can't believe people rag on this, for what? Not making sense? IT'S POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN MOTHERFUCKERS
I remember how all of my friends were so excited about the movie Popeye. It was based on a cartoon that was on television all the time and was going to star Robin Williams or better known to us as Mork from the very popular tv show Mork and Mindy. Then the movie opened and word of mouth was horrible. Popeye was the 15th biggest hit of 1980...but it was quickly forgotten. I eventually saw the movie on HBO but was not impressed.
So my second viewing of the movie was 30 years after the first viewing. Now that I am older and wiser....would I like the movie more? The answer is....yes a little better but not by much. The…
A perfect live-action cartoon and adaptation of Popeye if you ask me. From the casting to the sets and the overall tone just impeccable. Even the songs aren't allowed to get annoying or intrusive at all. Can't believe people rag on this, for what? Not making sense? IT'S POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN MOTHERFUCKERS
Patreon exclusive audio commentary by 80s All Over' Scott Weinberg and Drew McWeeny.
I know intellectually what Altman is trying to do here. The film sounds like an early Popeye cartoon, with voices not really connected to the bodies, but in a 1980 color film, this is just annoying.
The songs are dreadful. The action is meant to suggest comic strips or cartoons, but Altman's camera angles don't really nail the whimsy that one finds in comic strips. The characters just look dumb.
I couldn't connect with Robin Williams as Popeye, perhaps because his voice seems to be disconnected from him.
Shelley Duvall works as Olive Oyl, which makes the rest of the cast seem more painfully off.
Not a good time.
If I was gonna be Swee'Pea's mother, I should've at least let Olive be his father. Or viska versa. I ain't man enough to be no mother."
Flickchart Ranking: 12/100
Popeye might be a live action movie that is base off of the cartoon but it's a total embarrassment. It doesn’t look or has the feeling of one nor does it relate in any some way.
Robin Williams stars as the title character. Having arrived at a small coastal town called Sweethaven he arrives in search of his father who abandoned him at 2. Feared when arriving in town as a stranger he is welcomed into the home of the Oyl family who give him a room. Also during that time the daughter Olive Oyl played by Shelley Duvall is about to be engaged again to townsfolk bully Bluto played by Paul L. Smith. She would break…
I yam what I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam 'cause I yam what I yam.
It's a lot of fun with a filled theater.
But there are so many directorial problems with this movie that it just becomes loud and overwhelming.
In 35mm
"Who should we get to direct our big expensive adaptation of the beloved manic cartoon Popeye?"
"How 'bout the most lackadaisical stylist of the 70's?"
Watching Altman botch simple slapstick gags (the way he stages the piano duck is atrocious) over and over gets almost as exhausting as the length and incomprehensibly garbled songs. My best guess is that all the jokes in the script come out of Popeye's mouth but, in true Altman fashion, only 20% of his lines are discernible. You can blame it on the character's famous mumbling but they played a Popeye short from 1938 before the feature and every word of the cartoon was clear.
Obviously this is an amazing thing to exist…
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