Popeye (1980)

The adventures of the famous sailor man and his friends in the seaside town of Sweethaven.

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Jules Feiffer (screenplay), E.C. Segar (based on characters by)

Stars:

Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston

3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robin Williams	...	Popeye
Shelley Duvall	...	Olive Oyl
Ray Walston	...	Poopdeck Pappy
Paul Dooley	...	Wimpy
Paul L. Smith	...	Bluto
Richard Libertini	...	Geezil
Donald Moffat	...	The Taxman
MacIntyre Dixon	...	Cole Oyl
Roberta Maxwell	...	Nana Oyl
Donovan Scott	...	Castor Oyl
Allan F. Nicholls	...	Rough House (as Allan Nicholls)
Wesley Ivan Hurt	...	Swee'pea
Bill Irwin	...	Ham Gravy, the Old Boyfriend
Robert Fortier	...	Bill Barnacle, the Town Drunk
David McCharen	...	Harry Hotcash, the Gambler

Storyline

Buff sailor man Popeye arrives in an awkward seaside town called Sweethaven. There he meets Wimpy, a hamburger-loving man; Olive Oyl, the soon-to-be love of his life; and Bluto, a huge, mean pirate who is out to make Sweethaven pay for no good reason. Popeye also discovers his long-lost Pappy in the middle of it all, so with a band of his new friends, Popeye heads off to stop Bluto, and he's got the power of spinach, which Popeye detests, to bust Bluto right in the mush. Watch as Popeye mops the floor with punks in a burger joint, stops a greedy taxman, takes down a champion boxer, and even finds abandoned baby Swee'pea. He's strong to the finish 'cause he eats his spinach.

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Plot Keywords:

sailor | spinach | abandoned baby | bully | based on comic strip | 

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Taglines:

The sailor man with the spinach can!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 December 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Popeye - Der Seemann mit dem harten Schlag

Filming Locations:

Anchor Bay, Malta

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$49,823,057

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$60,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Productions, Robert Evans Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Vistasonic

Color:

Color Black and White (prologue)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paramount green-lit this film after losing a bidding war with Columbia for the screen rights to the musical Annie (1982). When producer Robert Evans found out that Paramount had lost the bidding for "Annie", he held an executive meeting in which he asked about comic strip characters that they had the rights to, that could also be used in order to create a movie musical, and one attendee recommended Popeye.

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Goofs

During the song "I'm Mean" Bluto picks up large chair. Three people standing by a window disperse to avoid being hit by the chair when Bluto turns to throw it out the window. We see Bluto throw the chair, but when the camera cuts back to the window it is not the chair but a small barrel that goes through the window.

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Quotes

Olive Oyl: I'm sorry mother but it's ugly. I ask you again, have you ever seen anything so ugly? I won't be engaged in this hat!

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Crazy Credits

The film begins in black-and-white, showing a vintage Paramount logo and the opening credits for the 1930s Paramount-Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons. However, an animated Popeye appears and sees this is the wrong opening. The movie then cuts to full color, and the opening credits continue.

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Alternate Versions

The British and European release versions run approximately fourteen minutes shorter than the American version, almost completely eliminating Ray Walston's Pappy from the story, and rendering at least one subplot incomprehensible.

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: The Best of Dana Carvey (1998)

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Soundtracks

Children
(uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Harry Nilsson
Performed by Ray Walston

User Reviews

The worst masterpiece ever made

Wow, again "the worst movie ever made". At least when you go by those self proclaimed internet-movie-critics on IMDb who never bother to bestow upon the heavily bored public their highly imaginative musings like "Two hours of my life I will never get back", without even having one (a life that is) in the first place. Fact is: Every movie in this database is "the worst ever made" ... for someone ... then scroll up or down a bit and suddenly the same movie will become a "never fully appreciated masterpiece". What does this teach us? The truth, like always, lies somewhere in between and is highly subjective. Go and see it for yourself. Don't be interested in what I have to say. Well, if you still are: I quite liked it.