Popeye (film)

Popeye, a strong sailor, arrives at the small coastal town of Sweethaven while searching for his missing father. He rents a room at the Oyl family's boarding house where the Oyls plan to have their daughter Olive become engaged to Captain Bluto, a powerful, perpetually angry bully who runs the town in the name of the mysterious Commodore. However, on the night of the engagement party, Olive sneaks out after discovering that the only attribute she can report for her bullying fiancé is size. She encounters Popeye, who failed to fit in with the townsfolk at the party. The two eventually come across an abandoned baby in a basket. Popeye and Olive adopt the child, naming him Swee'Pea after the town Sweethaven, and the two return to the Oyls' home. Bluto finds out about this encounter, which results in him declaring heavy taxation for the Oyls' property and possessions out of rage. A greedy taxman follows up on Bluto's demand, but Popeye helps the Oyls' financial situation by winning a hefty prize from defeating a boxer named Oxblood Oxheart.

The next day, Popeye discovers that Swee'Pea can predict the future by whistling when he hears the correct answer to a question. Wimpy, the constantly hungry local mooch and a petty gambler, also notices this and asks Popeye and Olive to take Swee'Pea out for a walk. However, he actually takes him to the "horse races" (actually a mechanical carnival horse game) and wins two games. Hearing of this, Olive and her whole family decide to get in on the action and use Swee'Pea to win, but an outraged Popeye finds out and takes Swee'Pea away.

Later, after Popeye throws the taxman into the sea (simultaneously earning the respect of the town), Wimpy then kidnaps the child at Bluto's orders. Wimpy informs Popeye about the kidnapping, after being threatened by Olive. Popeye goes to the Commodore's ship, where he finds out that the Commodore, who has actually been held a prisoner by Bluto all this time, is indeed Popeye's father, Poopdeck Pappy, who accepts that Popeye is his son after exposing Popeye's hatred of Spinach. Meanwhile, Bluto kidnaps Olive and sets sail with her and Swee'Pea to find buried treasure promised by Pappy. Popeye, Pappy, Wimpy and the Oyl family board Pappy's ship to chase Bluto to Scab Island, a desolate island in the middle of the ocean.

Popeye catches up to Bluto and fights him, but despite his determination, Popeye is overpowered. During the fight, Pappy recovers his treasure and opens the chest to reveal a collection of personal sentimental items from Popeye's infancy, including a few cans of spinach. A gigantic octopus awakens and attacks Olive from underwater (after Pappy saves Swee'Pea from a similar fate). With Popeye in a choke hold, Pappy throws him a can of spinach; Bluto, recognizing Popeye's dislike for spinach, force-feeds him the can before throwing him into the water. The spinach revitalizes Popeye and boosts his strength, helping him to defeat both Bluto and the giant octopus. Popeye celebrates his victory and his new-found appreciation of spinach while Bluto swims off, having literally turned yellow.

Popeye Village in Malta.

According to James Robert Parish, in his book Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, the idea for the Popeye musical had its basis in the bidding war for the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie between the two major studios vying for the rights, Columbia and Paramount. When 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 which the studio held the rights to which could also be used in order to create a movie musical, and one attendee said "Popeye".

At that time, even though King Features Syndicate (now a unit of Hearst) retained the television rights to Popeye and related characters, with Hanna-Barbera then producing the series The All-New Popeye Hour under license from King Features, Paramount had long held the theatrical rights to the Popeye character, due to the studio releasing Popeye cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios, respectively, from 1932 to 1957.

Evans commissioned Jules Feiffer to write a script. In 1977, he said he wanted Dustin Hoffman to play Popeye opposite Lily Tomlin as Olive Oyl, with John Schlesinger directing.[6] Hoffman later dropped out due to creative differences with Feiffer. Gilda Radner, then a hot new star as an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, was also considered for the Olive Oyl role.[7] However, Radner's manager Bernie Brillstein later wrote how he discouraged her from taking the part due his concerns about the quality of the script and worries about her working for months on an isolated set with Evans and Altman (both known for erratic behavior and unorthodox creative methods).[8]

In December 1979, Disney joined the film as part of a two-picture co-production deal with Paramount which also included Dragonslayer. Disney acquired the foreign rights through its Buena Vista unit; the deal was motivated by the drawing power that the studio's films had in Europe.

Principal photography commenced on January 23, 1980.[9][10] The film was shot in Malta. The elaborate Sweethaven set was constructed beyond what was needed for filming, adding to the cost and complexity of the production, along with a recording studio, editing facilities, and other buildings related to the production, including living quarters. Filming wrapped on June 19, 1980, three weeks over schedule due to rough weather.[10] The set still exists, and it is a popular tourist attraction known as Popeye Village. According to Parish, Robin Williams referred to this set as "Stalag Altman".

Parish notes a variety of other production problems. Feiffer's script went through rewrites during the production, and he expressed concern too much screen time was being devoted to minor characters. He also disliked Nilsson's songs, feeling they weren't right for the film. The original inflatable arms designed for the muscle-bound Popeye did not look satisfactory, so new ones were commissioned and made in Italy, leaving Altman to film scenes not showing them until the new ones arrived. Altman also had the cast singing their musical numbers live—contrary to standard convention for a movie musical where songs are recorded first in a studio and lip-synched—causing sound quality problems. Williams also had to re-record his dialogue after running into trouble with his character's mumbling style, a by-product of talking with a pipe in his mouth, and his affinity for ad-libs also led to clashes with the director. The final battle involving the octopus led to more headaches when the mechanical beast failed to work properly. After the production cost rose beyond $20 million, Paramount ordered Altman to wrap filming and return to California with what he had.

Popeye premiered at the Mann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on December 6, 1980, two days before what would have been E. C. Segar's 86th birthday.[11]^:123

• Parish, James Robert (2006). Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-69159-4.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Popeye (1980 film).

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• Popeye on IMDb
• Popeye at the TCM Movie Database
• Popeye at Box Office Mojo
• 1980 theatrical trailer on YouTube