Popeye

The sad death of Robin Williams last month brought many encomiums about his comedic gifts. But I found his work as a serious actor more intriguing. I admired but did not love his zany persona on talk shows, etc., but in films that did not swerve into the mawkish (which they often did) I found his acting to be compelling, such as in his Oscar-winning role in Good Will Hunting.

There are a few significant films I hadn't seen, including his first major film role, as the title role in Robert Altman's 1980 film, Popeye. I had avoided this film for years, even though I've seen almost all of Altman's films. The negative reputation of this film is long-lasting--it is generally on a list of the most famous flops in history. Indeed, watching the film this viewer had the reaction--why?

In doing a little research I read that this film was an answer to the film version of Annie (also a flop), in that Paramount lost the rights to that Broadway show and looked for another comic strip to turn into a musical. But how they ended up with Robert Altman, famous for his naturalistic shaggy-dog stories, is a very good question.

Though I found Popeye to be tedious, incoherent, and an all-around drag, I do see what Altman was going for--a live-action cartoon. Whether this is a noble endeavor is another question. This kind of thing would be done much better (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) and much worse (Scooby-Doo) but Altman had a vision, and he carried it out, but to less than pleasing results.

The story is pretty simple--Popeye rows into the port of Sweethaven which, in Jules Pfeiffer's script, is either a fascist dictatorship or a conservative nightmare (everything is taxed). The xenophobic citizens shun Popeye, but he does find a room at the Oyl's boarding house, where Olive (Shelley Duvall) is engaged to the town's bully, Bluto (Paul L. Smith). Popeye is looking for the father he abandoned years ago, and while with Olive one night, finds an infant in a basket, whom he names Swee'Pea.

The film, shot in Malta, has a wonderful production design, especially the rickety buildings of Sweethaven. The costumes replicate those of the cartoons, particularly the over-sized shoes, and Williams doesn't wear much facial makeup (he does squint to give that Popeye look) but does wear enormously padded forearms.

Popeye is a musical, and the songs were written by Harry Nilsson, and they are mostly pleasant but forgettable, except for Olive Oyl's "He Needs Me," which she sings when she realizes she's in love with Popeye.

Williams, who does seem the perfect choice, is curiously inhibited in the role, muttering most of his lines (as Popeye did in the cartoons), with most of the humor coming from his mispronunciation of words, mostly by adding a "K" (when he walks into a brothel, he ways, "Is this a house of ill repukes?"). There's none of the Williams improvisational genius on display, although Altman famously allowed his actors to improvise, so I don't know if Williams was handcuffed or not.

There has been some reappraisal of this film lately, wondering if it was unfairly judged. I say no. I was even let down by the ending, in which Popeye finally eats his spinach, but all he does is punches an octopus and Bluto swims away. Talk about a let-down.