Popeye is often cited as one of Hollywood’s great failures, and maybe in box office terms it was, though we’re not so sure about that either.
If you ever get to see it, and it’s hard, it is definitely worth a view.
Altman created a number of films that highlighted negative aspects of the USA. In Popeye, the main character arrives at the close knit community of Sweethaven where he is immediately regarded with deep suspicion by the locals. He is subjected to taxes for almost everything, scammed by the locals, rejected and made to feel generally unwelcome.
We often wonder what Altman would have made of Donald Trump being president of the country.
Through the whole film, even towards the cartoon-like end which is massively disappointing, there is an undertone of ‘hate the foreigner’. Sweethaven is not a place you would want to visit, and it’s true America.
But it’s a Disney film, so it has to appeal to children, right, and that’s the problem.
Go see for yourself.