Popeye
Short description
Popeye is a musical comedy adventure based on E. C. Segar's long-running comic strip Thimble Theatre. The sailor of the title arrives in the seaside town of Sweet Haven while searching for his father, and takes a room in the Oyl household. There he falls for Olive Oyl, but she is already promised to the hulking Bluto, who bullies the townspeople. Popeye's courtship turns into a rivalry with Bluto, and the contest is settled with the help of spinach.
Robert Altman directed the film, the tenth of the twenty-one features he made, following A Wedding and preceding Aria. Jules Feiffer wrote the screenplay, drawing on a 1971 hardcover collection of Segar's strips from the mid-1930s, and Robert Evans produced. Robin Williams plays Popeye, his first leading role, with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, Paul L. Smith as Bluto, Ray Walston as Poopdeck Pappy, Paul Dooley as Wimpy and Richard Libertini as Geezil. Fifty-five performers and fifty crew members are credited.
Made by Paramount with Walt Disney Productions, the Robert Evans Company and King Features Syndicate, the film cost about 20 million dollars and returned roughly 50 million worldwide. It holds a 6.1 out of 10 critics' rating from 43 reviews, while audiences rate it lower: 5.4 on IMDb from 37,000 votes and 5.6 on TMDB from 740.
What's left behind the scenes
- The large-scale set of the fictional town of Sweethaven was built in Anchor Bay on the northwest of the island of Malta. After filming, it became a popular tourist attraction. Popeye Village is open to visitors daily, and many of the houses retain furnishings from the time of the film's production.
- Many of the actors portraying the residents of Sweethaven, especially those with unusual appearances or physical abilities, were recruited from various European circus groups.
- Paramount Pictures gave the green light to the project after losing the battle for the rights to adapt "Annie" (1982).
- The roles of Popeye and Olive Oyl were initially intended for Dustin Hoffman and Gilda Radner. Dustin Hoffman left the project due to disagreement with the choice of Jules Pfeiffer as screenwriter. Gilda Radner's candidacy was promoted by the producers, but the director preferred Shelley Duvall.
- At different times, Mike Nichols, Arthur Penn, and Hal Ashby could have taken the director's chair.
- Much of Robin Williams' mumbling as Popeye was unintelligible to viewers after filming was completed. The actor had to re-record a significant portion of the dialogue during post-production.
- The roles in "Popeye" marked Robin Williams' and Linda Hunt's film debuts.
- Many of the sunken ships in the harbor were perfectly seaworthy vessels that were bought or rented, and then deliberately scuttled in shallow water.
- Shelly Duvall sang all of her own songs in the film.
- At one point early in production, the role of Olive Oyl was assigned to Lily Tomlin.
- The baby, Swee'pea, was played by Robert Altman's grandson, Wesley Ivan Hurt.
- Composer Harry Nilsson took breaks from working on his album 'Flash Harry' to write the music for the film. He wrote all the original songs and served as co-producer of the soundtrack alongside Bruce Robb at Cherokee Studios.
- The film was a joint project between Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions. The former acquired the rights in the US, while the latter held them in all other countries.
- The construction of the main set for the town of Sweethaven took seven months and involved 165 workers. Tree trunks for the buildings were imported from Holland, and wooden roof shingles had to be brought in from Canada. Over 7 tons of nails and 7,500 liters of paint were used. In its final form, the town consisted of 19 structures, including a hotel, a school, a warehouse, a post office, a church, and a tavern.
- To prevent the set from flooding during rough seas, a special 70-meter breakwater had to be constructed.
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