A Look Back At Robin Williams' Strangest Film: The Live-Action Popeye

The death of Robin Williams has lead to an overdue reappraisal of his glittering CV - from blockbusting family comedies like ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’, to serious dramas such as ‘Good Will Hunting’ and ‘Insomnia’.

His first major Hollywood role however hasn’t been getting much airtime –  even though it’s one of the strangest films ever made.

Williams’ second film outing was an adaptation of comic strip character Popeye the sailorman. The $20million adaptation of E.C. Segar’s large-forearmed, spinach-munching creation came about when production company Paramount lost the screen rights to the musical ‘Annie’ and were looking for an alternative. Studio head Robert Evans saw a cartoon he remembered from his youth and ‘Popeye’ was born.

The producer gathered a motley crew to put together this musical family comedy (at least, that’s what it was supposed to be).

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Dustin Hoffman was originally slated to star, only to drop out over a dispute with the writer. Paramount exec Michael Eisner loved Williams on ‘Mork & Mindy’, but wasn’t sure he could carry a film. Evans backed the young star and said he would make sure the other elements balanced out his inexperience. Actress Shelley Duvall (fresh from ‘The Shining’) played Olive Oyl.

The studio weren’t convinced about Duvall, who was an Altman favourite, preferring Gilda Radner, a comedian who had become famous as one of the original cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’. When Altman threatened to walk if Duvall wasn’t hired, he got his wish. The tunes were provided by Beatles’ favourite Harry Nilsson, while it was all held together – kind of – by maverick auteur Robert Altman (‘M*A*S*H’, ‘Nashville’).

Did we say it’s weird? Well it is. For one, though it was co-financed by Disney, it’s fairly adult. It was the first Mouse House to use the word s*** and there’s a scene set in a brothel. In a 2004 interview with Total Film, Altman said, “I make no apologies for ‘Popeye’…It got maligned by the critics because it wasn’t Superman. It wasn’t about special effects and it wasn’t made for 14-year-old boys.”

The film tells the story of Popeye, played with unintelligible voice and one closed eye by Williams, as he travels to the town of Sweethaven to reconnect with his father.

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Once in Sweethaven, Popeye meets and falls in love with Olive, who’s engaged to boorish thug Bluto, while they sort of adopt an abandoned baby. Who, er, might be clairvoyant. Oh – and there’s a scene where the characters have to fight an octopus. And singing.

It’s as confusing as it sounds.

The production – housed in the seaside village of Anchor Bay in Malta – was just as chaotic. Altman was a boozer who also liked his drugs and cocaine was readily available. The entire wooden set was built over seven months by a 165-strong crew, who constructed houses out of logs brought overland from Holland and shingles transported from Canada. An access road had to be pre-built and they had to erect a 200-foot breakwater to protect everything from high tides.

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“Oh my, it was the craziest experience,” remembered Williams years later. “He’s such a great, crusty character and an orphan, and sort of the whole idea of finding his Pappy — and all that stuff he mumbles is pretty nasty.”

In fact, the producers were worried that no-one would understand anything their hero was saying.

“Going back they wanted me to re-loop it, but it wasn’t meant to be understood,” said Williams. “It was meant to be like (in voice), ‘Oh, I seen better looks in oatmeal,’ you know, this kind of wild stuff.”

The movie employs many of Altman trademarks, including large crowd scenes and overlapping dialogue. But according to its star, the director wasn’t quite so good about keeping to the budget.

“It was just weird, we got to the end of the movie and they ran out of money,” recalled Williams. “They pulled the plug and all the special effects people left. And it was a bit like Ed Wood. Shelley Duvall is in the water with an octopus with nobody to run the octopus, and she`s going, ‘oh, help.’ And the octopus tentacles are going - oh, help.”

The actor was also injured after co-star Ray Walston threw a can of spinach (in the film, Popeye actually dislikes the vegetable) at Williams and hit him on the head, requiring several stitches.

While the movie was in post-production, Paramount head Robert Evans plead guilty to cocaine possession and the case tainted any films he was currently involved with.

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When it was finally released in December 1980, ‘Popeye’ got mixed reviews. The New York Times called it “thoroughly charming” and “immensely appealing”, but added it was, “occasionally pretentious and flat, sometimes robustly funny and frequently unintelligible”. The rest were much of the same, or even more damning of Altman’s fluid, eccentric take that bordered on experimental.

Quite who it’s made for is difficult to tell, but it remains an intriguing pitstop on Robin Williams’ road to stardom, having far more in common with his mile-a-minute, madcap stand-up routines than many of his later efforts.

But while the movie has faded into obscurity as far as Hollywood is concerned, that’s not the case for the Maltese population.

Since the cast and crew left the location, leaving all the sets in place, the Popeye Village has become a tourist attraction – entertaining families from around the world. Open all year round, you are greeted by Popeye and his friends, indulge in free tastings at the winery and enjoy the beach lido. During the Christmas period, you can visit Santa’s elves as they make presents.

With the passing of Williams, a room within the village will be turned into a museum dedicated to him. Bet he never expected that.

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Photos: PA/Rex/Moviestore/Popeyemalta.com