Popeye

Our celebration of the late, great Shelley Duvall concludes with a big screen presentation of Robert Altman’s 1980 musical comedy Popeye, featuring Duvall in her iconic role as Olive Oyl, opposite Robin Williams as the spinach-loving sailor man!

Celebrated filmmaker Robert Altman brings the beloved, anvil-armed sailor of the seven seas to magical life in this fun-loving musical comedy starring Robin Williams as Popeye and Shelley Duvall as Popeye’s long-limbed sweetie, Olive Oyl! Based on the long-running comic strip created by E.C. Segar, Popeye follows the sailor man with the squinty eye and the mighty arms (played by Williams in his first major film role) as he arrives in the seaside town of Sweethaven in search of his long-lost father, Poopdeck Pappy (Ray Walston). Popeye meets and falls for the wide-eyed Olive Oyl (Duvall, in the role she was born to play), but Olive’s hand has already been promised to the hulking Bluto (Paul Smith), of whom Olive can say little except, well, he’s large.  Featuring awe-inspiring sets, a colorful cast of characters transported from the comics to the screen in Altman’s trademark style, and a delightful score from singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson that includes such tunes as “I Yam What I Yam,” “Blow Me Down,” and Duvall’s enchanting rendition of “He Needs Me” (later used to great effect by Paul Thomas Anderson in Punch Drunk Love), Popeye is an utterly unique concoction unlike any other comic book movie. (Dir. by Robert Atlman, 1980, USA,114 mins., Rated PG)