“Bluto. Even though you’re bigger than me, ya can’t
win, ‘cause you’re bad, and the good always wins over the bad”
When I was six years old I saw what at
the time was the first cartoon made into a film. What I had only been seen on bad color TV’s
and the Sunday comic strips, was brought to life by Robert Altman’s “Popeye”. With Robin
Williams in his first starring role, who was perfectly cast as was Shelly
Duvall as Olive Oyl, who was fresh off her role running from a crazed Jack Nicholson
in “The Shining”. Now when I think of
an Altman film, what comes to mind is “MASH”, “Short Cuts”, “The Player” and “Gosford
Park”. How a film like “Popeye” which
was written as a comedy/musical got on his radar, I will never know. I remember loving this movie as a kid, and I
also remember watching it over and over, loving the catchy songs, and mimicking
the wacky big fight scene at the end of the film with my cousin at the local
pool in the summers that followed.
Watching the
film now I see moments where it starts to get inconsistent, it was funny, then semi-serious,
then it almost felt like there was a political message, but just when it seemed
to start to go all the way off track another song would come on, almost all of
which were written by Harry Nilsson.
These stood out to me the most after over ten years of not seeing the
movie all the way through. They are
cleverly written lyrics, like a good album, and like a good album they all have
a similar tone, and they all seem to be sung by the cast themselves. The other stand out is the performances,
Williams, and Duvall are amazing, Williams with his Popeye mumbling, and talking
to himself with great lines like “I ain’t no physcikisk, but I knows what
matters.” And Duvall with her vocal sounds
that are so good, you can almost see the word balloons over her head when she
goes “Ohhh…”. Ray Walston as Popeye’s Pappy,
and Paul Dooley as Wimpy are pretty great too.
Something else I was impressed by was the set design of Sweet Haven,
that decrepit looking dock town, it looked like a set but felt like a real
place if that makes any sense. And with
the spectacular looking costumes I did get a little immersed in the world after
all these years. Again, it’s by no means
perfect, but it’s stood the test of time to be considered a classic ‘80’s film.
--Robert L.
Castillo
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