Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/visiting-popeyes-village-in.html
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Underrated movie.
Also the village is forty years old, not fifty. Unless I’ve been in quarantine a lot longer than I think.
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Agreed. Not one of Altman’s best, but I still have a soft spot for it.
And really, Shelley Duvall in the role she was born to play!
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I really enjoyed it as a kid but I rewatched Popeye about 8 years ago and i was surprised to find that i hated everything about it. The plot felt really slapped together and lazy, maybe i need to rewatch it again.
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And the music is excellent.
Everything is food!
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That video makes me very glad I skipped it and went to Gozo instead. Malta has a lot to offer. Hard to understand the draw to that…
I just wish they had included that song on the official movie CD.
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Thank you!
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As a fan of the original Thimble Theater comic strip (though I also like the later Fleischer cartoons) I loved the movie. It came very close to reproducing the feeling of the strip at the time of Popeye’s introduction. It also had bits and pieces from several years of strip storylines, though combining many things for the sake of the shorter movie.
In fact, the only characterization I think they got wrong was Wimpy. In the movie he’s presented as a sympathetic character. In the strip he was completely beyond redemption, with very few favorable moments, and those all in his own interests and just incidentally aiding the group.
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Huh. I wonder why? It’s on the “deluxe” edition, which also includes some of Nilssonn’s demos.
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I think Altman was more keen on the interplay of characters in their environment. More of an experience as opposed to a plot driven formula.
Allegedly a big pot smoker. Maybe it pairs well with that kind of kids movie?
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My wife and I both grew up rewatching Popeye as HBO endlessly re-ran it. The soundtrack holds up, and the deluxe version takes me right back. I keep checking it out (virtually) from the library.
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wow, I was just in a meeting yesterday where this place was discussed… and I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it previously. What a weird coincidence.
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Also a huge fan of the Fleischer Bros. animations and the Bobby London strips. The first half of this film is brilliant and it would have been great to see where Altman was gonna go with it all - but the back half of the picture is the result of a slap dash intervention by the studio (Duh-Disney) as they tried (in vain) to make it a more cheery family flic. Shame really.
Yeah - and Paul Dooley was horribly miscast as Wimpy.
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And they should at least give that tourist Popeye some fore ams, fer cryin’ out loud.
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Came here to say, Shelley Duvall looks great in this! Must see.
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One of the first movies I ever saw in the theatre. It was fantastic (at least it was for my 4 year old self). I only saw it once, but I still remember certain scenes. I never knew it was meant to be a comedy, but then again, many things went over my 4 year old head.
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it’s Altman, so the plot isn’t ever foremost. it’s one of those “following huge groups of people around and find out what makes them tick” movies that he does. in Popeye, it’s at least punctuated by a few cool action scenes (the restaurant, the boxing match).
but the real reason to watch Popeye is for the mis-en-scene, which is about as good as any movie has ever done.
next time I’m in Malta, I’m totally going.
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Movie watching is also driven by where we are at in a particular moment in time, so i’m certainly not dumping on the movie but mentioning that when i last saw it i got no enjoyment out of it. If i ever do rewatch it i hope i’d be more entertained, though from what i do recall the best part of the movie was certainly how pretty the town looked. It’s been a while so curious what i think of it now.
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I loved Ray Walston in that film.
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