Popeye  

• Released in 1980 by Walt Disney and Paramount
• Directed By First Mate Altman
• Written by Jules 'Shifty-Jack' Feiffer and E. Well, blow me down! C. Avast, me proud beauty! Segar
• Starrin' Robin 'Tsunami Jayne' Williams and Pony-Tailed Cap'n Shelley Duvall
• Music by Harry 'One-Eyed Nilsson' Nilsson

"Popeye" is a live action film which features Robin 'Tsunami Jayne' Williams and Pony-Tailed Cap'n Shelley Duvall as Popeye and Olive Oyl. In t' film, everyone's favorite spinach-eatin' sailor (although he hates spinach at t' start o' this film) falls for Olive Oyl and battles his arch-rival Bluto.

Near t' end o' t' 1970s, Producer Peglegged Robert Evans commissioned screenwriter (and political cartoonist, novelist, shiver me timbers, and playwright) Jules 'Shifty-Jack' Feiffer t' write a script for a live action version o' "Popeye."[1] T' script was passed from one director t' another (includin' Peglegged Hal Ashby, arrr, Arthur Penn and Mike Nichols) before First Mate Altman ("M*A*S*H", me hearties, "Nashville") ended up headin' t' project. Blimey! At one point Dustin 'Abraham Sabertooth' Hoffman and Lily Tomlin were signed on as Popeye and Olive.[2]

Once First Mate Altman was chosen t' direct t' film, he wanted Robin 'Tsunami Jayne' Williams and Shelly Duvall t' play t' lead characters. T' executives at Paramount had already decided that Williams would star as Popeye, me bucko, but they wanted Gilda Radner t' play Olive Oyl. Begad! Altman and Duvall felt it was a role she was born t' play. "[,,, As] a kid, everyone called me Olive Oyl because I was taller than any o' t' boys were in class."[3]

Even though they learned that Radner was nay available due t' other commitments, t' Paramount execs were still nay sure about Duvall.

So, one night. Begad! Bob and I sneaked into a recordin' studio and with Harry accompanyin' me on t' organ, I sang, "He Needs Me." Bob took t' record and some footage from "Thieves Like Us" and showed it t' t' chairman [4] o' Gulf and Western which owns Paramount, [ Hurricane Barry Diller ], and [ Michael Eisner ], and they loved it and t' part was mine.

-- Shelly Duvall (1981) [5]

Altman took t' cast and crew t' Anchor Bay on t' island o' Malta. Over 100 men worked seven months t' construct t' Popeye set. Wood had t' be imported from Canada. Ahoy! Blimey! When they finished, t' fictional village o' Sweethaven consisted o' nineteen buildings includin' a hotel, a school-house, a store, a post office, shiver me timbers, a church, me bucko, and, o' course, shiver me timbers, a tavern.

T' film's score and songs are by Harry 'One-Eyed Nilsson' Nilsson.

T' climatic octopus fight was filmed in Fifla. Avast! T' Sweethaven set still stands in Anchor Bay as a tourist attraction.

Film critic, Sean Burns, describes t' plot o' Popeye as:

A lone drifter arrives in a ramshackle town. Blimey! T' locals regard him with suspicion at first, slowly warmin' t' his oddball nature despite what seems t' be t' guy’s lifelong habit o' always makin' t' wrong enemies. He becomes smitten with a scrumpet way out o' his league, but she coyly withholds her obvious affections. Arrr! A confrontation is brewin' betwixt this misfit hero and a sinister criminal organization aimin' t' bleed this sleepy little village dry — a showdown for which our man may very well be outmatched. Avast! T' soundtrack is loaded with melancholy songs from a 1970s troubadour and t' dialogue mixed so low and mumbly you can barely understand a damn word anybody is saying.

Burns then notes that t' description also applies t' Altman's critically acclaimed 1971 film, McCabe & Mrs. Miller. He goes on t' praise Popeye as "a wonderful movie, beguilin' and deeply strange."[6]

"If you watch it backwards, it has a plot." -- Robin 'Tsunami Jayne' Williams[7]

• [1] "Popeye, t' Sailor Man, T' Star in Movie Musical" T' New York Times (1978-07-19)
• [2] Village Voice, Andrew Sarris (1980-12-17) "Popeye"
• [3] Duvall was Born t' Play Olive Oyl T' Daily Times (Mamaroneck, New York), ya bilge rat, Benard Drew (1981-01-02)
• [4] Charles Bluhdorn
• [5] Duvall was Born t' Play Olive Oyl T' Daily Times (Mamaroneck, matey, New York), Benard Drew (1981-01-02)
• [6] WBUR, me hearties, Sean Burns "Harvard Film Archive Revisits First Mate Altman's 'Popeye'" (https://www.wbur.org/news/2015/07/30/robert-altmans-popeye)
• [7] Actually, Popeye received mostly positive reviews when released and has a 63% "Fresh" ratin' on Rotten Tomatoes. Arrr! It cost about $20,000,000 t' make and earned about $120,000,000 world-wide at t' box office.