Popeye (1980) ****

I will never understand the disdain and disrespect aimed at Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980). I know it underperformed at the box office and critics weren't too kind to it but I absolutely adore this film. I watched it many times when I was young (not quite an infink, as the titular character would say, but pretty young) and I continue to get nothing but pleasure from this movie, which is almost as old as I am.

Casting is tremendously important to a film like this and the filmmakers nailed every choice (down to the small roles that only those familiar with E.C. Segar’s strip would recognize). Robin Williams isn’t exactly the comic strip Popeye and he's not quite the Fleischer cartoons Popeye but he’s Popeye nonetheless. And he’s sublime. His muttering, his movement, the faces he makes—all memorable and endlessly amusing. Shelley Duvall was born to play Olive Oyl. She embodies everything about the character—her mannerisms, her physicality, her voice, her facial expressions. Paul L. Smith as the grimacing, hulking Bluto and Ray Walston as the curmudgeonly Poopdeck Pappy are also perfect.

Popeye is filled to the brim with visual gags and puns. It's often hilarious and just as often surreal (the makeup is really bizarre but wonderful). The costumes and production design are brilliant. I would love to visit the Sweethaven set that still stands in Malta someday.

The songs. I love the songs! Long before I knew who Harry Nilsson was (and I’ve long since been a big fan), I loved the songs (I have the vinyl soundtrack). "He Needs Me" is an absolute all-timer (Paul Thomas Anderson liked it enough to repurpose it in his 2002 film Punch-Drunk Love). The way Duvall charmingly sings the song, slightly out of key, while she awkwardly dances on a dock, just melts your heart.

Oddly enough, I’ve only seen two other Altman films (M*A*S*H (1970) and Nashville (1975)) and I can’t say I like either as much as Popeye (and I’m fully aware that this film is nothing like the rest of the director’s filmography). But I have to give credit to him, the cast, crew, writer Jules Feiffer, and producer Robert Evans for bringing this slice of joy to life. There are few films that successfully translate a cartoon to live action and this is one of them. It’s a tad too long and it’s far from perfect, but I love it and I can only imagine that E.C would have had a ball with it.