Popeye

In the 1980 film Popeye you see the essential Altman method at work. Mumbling characters, characters talking over one another, a lack of conventional pacing, a fundamental sense of improvisation. Yet where these devices worked to great effect in Mash or Nashville they don't do so well here. The film seems so informally made that often it appears as if characters are improvising on the spot, making lines up as they go, stumbling around physically and verbally because no one has rehearsed them or blocked out the scenes. In certain scenes characters seem to have lurched into motion only a second before the director says "Action!" Such an approach may work well for a comedian such as Robin Williams, for whom improvisation is second nature, but not so well for others.

Nonetheless, Popeye is fun to watch and often fascinating, even when it can be frustrating and boring. Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl may be the standout character in the film, though it is difficult to pass by Altman's grandson, Wesley Ivan Hurt, who plays the infant Swee'pea. Ray Walston is great as Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye's long lost father. Paul Dooley does passably well as the hamburger fetishist Wimpy, while Paul Smith as Bluto, though he can mumble and growl menacingly, is the least successful major character. There could have been no other choice for Popeye than Williams.

In the developing relationship between Olive and Popeye and Swee'pea, this film is at its best.

Altman recognizes that the creators of the Popeye comic strip and cartoon series created a whacky and imaginative world of characters. He attempts to replicate that world in the film. He also recruited some highfalutin contributors to the project, such as Jules Feiffer for the screenplay and Harry Nillson for the soundtrack.

But at times Popeye is a challenge to sit through.