"So Let it Be Written... So Let it Be Done"

The life and times of a real, down to earth, nice guy. A relocated New Englander formerly living somewhere north of Boston, but now soaking up the bright sun of southwestern Florida (aka The Gulf Coast) for over nine years. Welcome to my blog world. Please leave it as clean as it was before you came. Thanks for visiting, BTW please leave a relevant comment so I know you were here. No blog spam, please. (c) MMV-MMXIX Court Jester Productions & Bamford Communications

Saturday, June 07, 2008

SNMR 4.30: "Popeye"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Popeye" (1980, PG, 113 minutes), starring Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Smith, Paul Dooley, Richard Libertini, Bill Irwin and Wesley Ivan Hurt. The film was directed by Robert Altman.

PLOT SUMMARY: Popeye (Williams) comes to Sweethaven, gets the girl Olive Oyl (Duvall), adopts a son, rescues his pappy (Walston) and beats up the bad guy Bluto (Smith) after eating a can of raw spinach, all while singing a happy tune. Yada yada yada.

MY OPINION: I remember seeing this film in the movie theater as an 11 year old boy. Back then I thought it was the coolest thing. Now not so much, though seeing this movie again after 27+ years brings back some fun childhood memories. I used to love watching the Popeye cartoons on television, both in b&w and in color.

The casting of Robin Williams as Popeye and Shelly Duvall as Olive Oyl were excellent choices. The visual effects are good but the story is too long and could have been accomplished just as well in 90 minutes or so. This is one of the first cartoons to be made into a feature film as far as I can recall. The director has definitely captured that cartoonish feel to the film, which is great, considering the source material.

It's a fun movie to watch with your kids (V and M liked it without ever having seen a Popeye cartoon) or if you were a fan of the old cartoons as I was.

** out of *****

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2 Comments:

At 08 June, 2008 06:24, Blogger American Guy said...

go back and watch some of the old popeye cartoons - they're really something.

Listen carefully to all the stuff popeye mutters under his breath - it's a riot and some of it is fairly risque.

One of the most surprising ones is when he's rescuing olive oil from a harem or somesuch and she's very thankful, planting kisses on him till he blushes and - i swear I'm not makiing this up - says "hmmm, I've never made love in technicolour before"

 
At 08 June, 2008 13:33, Blogger Tim said...

AG: actually I do recall on the occasions I've watched the Popeye cartoons, that he does mutter stuff under his breath - and Robin Williams' Popeye does the same thing - though I don't recall the specific example you mention.

 

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