Popeye
Robin Williams spent much of his career in television, movies and stand up comedy honing a performance style that came to define him as such: a manic, motormouth funnyman capable of throwing out ad libs quicker than some viewers’ minds could discern them, something that was most definitely at play in nearly every comedy role he was ever in. In his more dramatic parts (including his well deserved Oscar win for Good Will Hunting), he came across as being more reserved and reined in but yet still with many of the more cheerful aspects of his core persona remaining. But there was only one time that Williams achieved something almost akin to Method acting, an instance where he became so completely immersed in his role and the character which he was playing that one would almost have to pinch themselves just to have a reminder that they were indeed watching a Robin Williams acting performance. Ironically, this would happen with his first ever starring role in a major motion picture, having become a star on television through his playing of the manic alien Mork on Mork And Mindy, becoming a big enough name in the process that whatever was to be his first big movie was guaranteed to be one that would have people’s interests. And that turned out to be this 1980 production with Williams starring as the one and only Popeye The Sailor Man, the forever iconic cartoon and comic strip character who fought for justice on behalf of the residents of the small town of Sweethaven whom he had befriended, most notably against the infamous and equally iconic Bluto. The genesis of the project was almost haphazard in the way that it came together: after losing a bidding war to make a movie from the comic strip inspired musical Annie, Paramount Executive Robert Evans called a meeting where he asked if there were any other well known licenced characters or properties that they held the rights to and thus could make a live action movie out of. When one of his assistants brought up that Paramount owned the rights to Popeye, that is when the decision was made to make the movie on the spot with Dustin Hoffman attached to star in the early stages of production. When it came to directing, the legendary Robert Altman was brought in mostly because of him being available. After Hoffman dropped out, Williams was brought in based off of his TV success and the production proceeded to build a massive, beautiful set on the island of Malta (of which remains a popular tourist spot to this day) and the whole entire odd, bloated production was under way with Altman serving as taskmaster for what was said to be a heavily cocaine laden environment as producer Evans even wound up being arrested at one point while on his way to making a suitcase filled “special delivery” to the set. Despite that, the film managed to pull off a surreal whimsy that earned it both a cult status (it failed to ignite the box office when it was released) as well as an acknowledgement of it being one of the best kids / family films ever made, the kind of thing that could entertain any adults who happened to be watching along with the little tykes. And at the center of it all was Robin Williams, never breaking character even once with his large, prosthetic forearms, eternal squint and of course the Popeye character’s known proclivity to constantly mutter underneath his breath all while always talking to himself in a continuous stream of consciousness. It is not enough that we see very little if any of the known Robin Williams persona, we don’t even hardly see Robin Williams himself as he takes on Popeye’s high pitched yet gravelly voice and never looks back. Of course it helps if the other roles of these well known characters are cast just right, and unlike Williams having to transform himself completely, for the role of Olive Oyl we get an actress who was seemingly born to play the part in Shelley Duvall (somebody who was actually teased as a teenager by other kids who used to call her that) and so she effortlessly breezes through the performance as a result, perfectly blending G rated sex appeal and oddball quirks in equal measure. But as good as Duvall is, she is just about beaten out by an actor who was also obviously born to play his role in Paul Smith (having just scored big as the terrifying Turkish head prison guard Hamidou in Midnight Express) in the part of the infamous Bluto, pirate and controller of the small seaside town of Sweethaven where he has been placed in charge on behalf of “The Commodore”, the true owner of the town whom nobody has seen in years all while liberally dispatching his tax collector (Donald Moffat) to ride around and randomly tax people for little to no reason. The plot sees Popeye arriving in the town searching for his long lost Pappy (Ray Walston, who also gives an hysterically funny and manic performance once he comes into it) and finding a room for rent at The Oyl residence, where he meets Olive and her family including her idiot brother Castor (Donovan Scott) and their friends / hanger ons including professional parasite Wimpy (Paul Dooley) with his love for hamburgers especially if somebody else is paying for them. Olive as one might expect is engaged to Bluto which is the talk of the town until Popeye (and Swee Pea who is dropped off in a basket) comes into the picture, then it’s all out war as the jilted Bluto tears apart the family’s home and imposes higher taxes on them, forcing Popeye to fight a blob of a human being in an open challenge boxing match in order to make ends meet (one who is managed by his mother in one Linda Hunt, standing on a box while on the ring apron in order to advise her son). The remarkable thing about all of this is that since this movie and its characters are in essence being adapted from a silly cartoon, thus almost all of the characters here in turn not only act like cartoonish fools, but are dressed that way too (it appears that we’ve entered an alternate reality where literal clown shoes are the trending style of the time). Altman smartly utilizes the actors in such a way that while some are given important bits of business here and there, nearly ALL of them remain consistently on hand as background players throughout with Bluto himself being shown as having a God’s eye view, always looking on from above at the various happenings on display whether it be Popeye fighting some bullies who have insulted him (while grabbing other innocent bystanders and roughing them up to “apologize” to Popeye) or the boxing match (arguably the single best setpiece of the movie) or when Swee Pea is taken to the horse races by Wimpy due to the child’s innate ability to predict the winner, with Bluto observing all of this while rarely getting his own hands dirty until the final act, one where we find out that Popeye actually HATES spinach which Bluto unwittingly tries to use as a psychological advantage much to his regret. Alas, into many classics some rain must fall: the decision was made to also produce this movie as a musical with original songs composed by Harry Nilsson with the unfortunate result being that most (but not all) of them fall pretty flat, and worse, the songs literally wind up affecting the pacing of the movie itself since we learn that once the singing stops and the actors are finally allowed to really play their oddball characters as having conversations and interactions, the movie comes off as being a lot better as a result instead of slowing down for the various musical interludes. But at least the opening Sweethaven song is inspiring and Williams elbowing his way through I Yam What I Yam has some charm to it, not to mention a full rendering of the well known theme song during the finale, one where Popeye and Bluto are finally squaring off in more ways than one (as God intended) and Walston’s near scene stealing turn as Poopdeck Pappy comes full circle. While one’s tolerance level for the material may vary (this is definitely NOT a beer drinking movie), it undoubtedly remains a great movie for kids to watch with just enough of a slight edge to it (including Popeye yelling “oh shit!” when he jumps into the water) to make it entertaining in various ways with absolutely stunning production and costume design and just enough wayward charm to keep it afloat even as Williams (who never again acted in a comic book inspired project) shows an almost frightening dedication to maintaining the authenticity of the goofy cartoon character whom he’s bringing to life here, so much so that no sequel or even a reboot was ever required…
8/10