Popeye (1980)

[jwyblejr]

It's like a really bad car wreck. You just can't help but watch.

[johnmiic]

What the script-writer and the director failed to grasp is Popeye is an action character. That's where the film fails. It is a terrific adaptation; the characters are really brought to life, but you can't create the world of Popeye and strand him in Olive Oyl's home town and have him meander around and suffer insults for 2 hours. You have to quickly get him on the seas, into adventure and in danger. Maybe if Popeye had come out after they made Raiders they would have been inspired to make an action adventure film. I recall over the years Robert Altman stood firm on his work on Popeye but it just doesn't stand up to scutiny.

[bobws]

i couldn't stand how you couldn't understand popeye. i don't care if he mumbles , you pay money to hear the characters speak.

[Bruce Banner]

I even had the "making of" paperback and the soundtrack LP from this movie.

Haven't seen it since it first came out... I guess I'll have to rewatch it!

[Earth 2 Chris]

The pacing, music and dialog is way off. But I can't help it, I like it too. I bought it for $5 a few years back, and my son and I watched it. He liked it, but he hasn't asked to see it again. I'm kind of in the same boat. Once every 10 years or so is more than enough.

Chris

[MIB41]

Yeah, I remember Popeye being on HBO it seems like every other day,so it was definitely a staple for early to mid 80's cable viewing. I watched this not too long ago myself. I think what is sad about this movie, is that even though it was made in the 80's, they got the look of it really well. The director just didn't know what to do with any of it. Had a young Tim Burton made this film, THAT would have been incredible, because that was really the world they were in - surreal. Burton would have made it a classic.

[huedell]

i couldn't stand how you couldn't understand popeye. i don't care if he mumbles , you pay money to hear the characters speak.

Actually, I think it's more accurate to say that you pay money to hear
the characters speak "like they do in the cartoons"...which, frankly,
is a lot of mumbling on POPEYE's part.

[huedell]

What ticked me off about it was Popeye didn't eat the spinach until the very end. What the heck?

One of the "better" plot ideas, I'd say. They save the iconic concept
for the third act instead of just shluffing it off as an everyday thing....
hey, that woulda been fine for the sequel if there ever WAS one!

[kingdom warrior]

Make a new one Sin City style Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie a Robert Rodriguez film.....Guns, Spinach and Olive Oil Popeye it's not your Father's brand of spinach.....

[spamn]

Saw this in the theater as a kid and hated it. Was really let down, because it looked pretty amazing as far as transitioning from cartoon to live action, and Robin Williams as Popeye at the peak of his fame? How do you screw that up?

Haven't seen it since, don't care to.

[Mego Milk]

I love it.

[palitoy]

Loved it as a kid, haven't seen it since then. Been meaning to revisit with the kinder in tow.

[Riffster]

I don't care what anyone says, I like this movie

love this movie

[PNGwynne]

Have to admit I like it--it's not perfect, it's not Sondheim, but it has this quirky charm. The casting & some of the songs carry it through imo.

"Sweet Sweet Haven" is terrific...

Would've been neat to see Sea Hag or Alice the Goon somehow.

[Van Hammersly]

A great thread, and I completely see the argument for both POVs. I fall on the side of those who like the movie. I think the film is visually brilliant, the casting dead-on (any chance to see Paul Dooley in action is a treat), but for me what sells the whole shebang are...

...the songs.

I think what Robert Altman and Harry Nilsson produced is something amazingly subversive--an anti-musical. The music and lyrics seem to go against most popular musicals (granted, a genre that hadn't had a mass audience in more than a decade when the film came out in 1980), and given the talent involved, this was clearly a conscious choice. Songs like, "He's Large," "I'm Mean," "He Needs Me," "Everything is Food"...all of these have deliberately repetitive lyrics, and incredibly deliberate performances.

I do think this all comes down to a matter of taste. Some people love sauerkraut, some don't.* Both are right!


*I love sauerkraut. And POPEYE.