It seems fair that Netflix has Robert Altman’s Popeye categorized as a cult film.
One of the more satisfying results of ‘80s All Over has been hearing from people all over the world who love that movie. I love that movie. I unabashedly, wholeheartedly, without apology love that movie. I recognize that it’s strange and shaggy and a little bit shapeless and doesn’t really work as a comedy and I don’t care. I don’t care at all. I love it anyway.
I love it so much that Scott Weinberg and I recorded a full-length audio commentary for Popeye that you can now find as part of our ‘80s All Over iTunes feed, or over at the ‘80s All Over web archive, where even our Patreon exclusive episodes are now available for free for everyone. I love the commentary we recorded, and I want to recommend as my first daily pick for this COVID-19 crisis that you watch Popeye twice. Once just because it’s great, and once with our very informative commentary that will teach you all sorts of things about the making of this weird and wonderful musical.
Since it’s Saturday, I’m making today’s newsletter a freebie, as well as an open message thread so anyone can post on it as long as you’re signed up for the free version of the newsletter. Since it’s a Saturday Free-For-All, anything goes. We’re not just here to talk about Popeye, although you can certainly talk about Popeye all you want and you won’t hear me complain.
If you’re a paid subscriber, though, I’m going to send out one recommendation every day America’s on pause. You can find Popeye on Netflix, as I mentioned, as well as Crackle, and you can also rent it on YouTube or Amazon Prime or Vudu or Google Play right now.
Let’s start with something that is just plain sweet and strange and fun, nothing too heavy. I figure it’s always a good day for a little Robin Williams and a little Shelley Duvall and a little Harry Nillson and oh my god I think I’m going to have to go watch it again myself.
I wanted to comment in the paid thread about superheroes killing the movie star but haven’t made the leap yet (funds are tight right now). Anyway the answer is Leo is the last movie star. His brand is unparalleled, he works with top talent and he gets people to see movies that many other times they wouldn’t.
- Five highest grossing Scorsese films (not adjusted)
- Two highest grossing Tarantino films (not adjusted)
- Highest grossing Cameron film (adjusted/6th biggest film ever)
- Highest grossing Nolan original
- Highest grossing AGI film
- First and third highest grossing Baz films (third being Leo’s mainstream breakthrough pre-Titanic)
Many of these were in the past decade when superheroes completely took over the box office. The craziest thing is they are all originals/adaptations. While Tom Cruise and Will Smith can still pull huge numbers in sequels/franchise films, Leo does it while getting mauled by a bear, stuttering through Hollywood, OCD’ing through Hollywood, etc. Even his box office misfires (Body of Lies, Revolution Road, J. Edgar) pull in better numbers than they would without him.
Lastly, Catch Me If You Can was one more Spielberg classic/box office hit and a passing of the torch from Tom Hanks as movie star dominating the adult drama scene in the 90s to Leo doing it ever since.
On a related note, get well soon, Hanks. We love you.
I think the only movie I watched more than Popeye on nascent VHS between 1982 and 1986 was The Beastmaster. I'm pretty sure my dad taped Popeye off HBO or Showtime, and I still remember when the tape would go a bit wonky from the scenes I would rewind and rewatch often during that time. I loved the Popeye cartoons when I was a kid. I loved all the old stuff from the 30's through 60's that would be on local TV reruns in Atlanta. Popeye, Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, and of course, The Three Stooges. What I love best about Altman's Popeye is that it is a wonderfully weird and sweet film. It feels like a throwback even though it was made in the modern era at the tail end of the auteur director decade of the 1970s and released in 1980. That someone like Robert Altman made that particular film feels like something of a minor miracle. He was a director with a singular voice and he never made a film like Popeye before or after.
Speaking of a director with a singular voice, I've been combing through Hulu the last couple of weeks for things to binge, and while the new FX on Hulu has been wonderful, giving me an opportunity to rewatch Justified while my series set is still in storage, and getting started on Archer again before the next season debuts in May, I found and rewatched a show I hadn't seen since the beginning of streaming about a decade ago: Spaced, from the fiendishly funny minds of Jessica Stevenson, Simon Pegg, and Edgar Wright. You can easily binge that show in a weekend, as there are very few episodes, but all of them are zany and brilliant. You can see the DNA of the Cornetto Trilogy while you watch, and even some of the same jokes. I also recommend a funny show starring Darren Boyd called Spy about a hapless single dad who becomes an MI-5 Agent and a particularly very British, kinda soapy show starring the amazing and brilliant and wonderful Stephen Fry called Kingdom. The last is not in HD, which is a bit of a letdown, but some Hulu shows are weirdly not in HD even though they've been given the HD treatment like Star Trek: The Next Generation. Perhaps Netflix owns the rights to TNG's HD masters? Does anyone here know?
Stay safe. Wash your hands. Sneeze into your elbow like Obama showed us. Listen to the CDC and not the media which is invested in causing panic to increase failing ratings. Don't hoard toilet paper (weird). Do some fun things like try to cook fancy meals with what you have in your house. Maybe move all your living room furniture against the walls and pitch a tent for some inside camping, or if you have a backyard, do it there. Have video game tournaments playing Madden or FIFA or Halo. Binge to your heart's content. Or do it right, turn off social media, shut down your laptops, phones, and tablets and have a good old-fashioned movie marathon with no distractions!
Popeye was one of my favorite movies when I was about 7 or 8. I haven't seen it in a while, but I plan on revisiting it after hearing you and Scott give it a massive "love-fest" on 80s All Over.
I'm working on keeping up with screeners and reviews for my own site, and there are many I can do- thankfully- without going to the theatre.
I promise I will be getting to "Popeye" this year- it's part of my older films review series, and I plan on making it my Altman bookend with "McCabe & Mrs. Miller."
Yesterday I rewatched "Black Lake"- a psychological horror film I just watched at the Women in Horror Film Festival- along with "Spenser Confidential" (meh) and "Starship Troopers," which I'm still not a big fan of, but appreciate a bit more compared to when I watched it in '97.
Today started with finally watching "American Psycho" for the aforementioned "older films" series, and I'm currently in the middle of a "Metropolis" rewatch of the 2010 restoration; I forgot how much weirder that version is, and the two-hour plus one is already strange. (I'm curious, though- you guys mentioned several reissues on "'80s All Over," is there a reason you guys didn't discuss the 1984 restoration of "Metropolis" by Gorgio Moroder?)
I loved Robert Altman: The Oral Biography. But I still have never watched this! I've been finally watching better call saul but maybe I'll break it up with this (and Annihilation, which I've never seen, though I did read the book)
Have you considered relaunching 80s Allover podcast but just focusing on one movie per episode? That way you could put out an episode weekly or fortnightly and it would be much more managable. A lot of people just enjoy listening to you go deep on a film, especially when it involves some Hollywood back story we may not be aware of. The newsletter format is great, but the podcast was so convenient to listen to in the car or commute to work etc. would love to know if you have plans to relaunch it!
Also -- Pluto TV, the free-with-ads streaming/on demand service which is partially backed by Paramount, has this movie available on demand. Actually, their live streaming movie channels seem to have a minor addiction to it; every 2 to 3 days one of them will be running it at some point (especially the Family feed.)
I wanted to comment in the paid thread about superheroes killing the movie star but haven’t made the leap yet (funds are tight right now). Anyway the answer is Leo is the last movie star. His brand is unparalleled, he works with top talent and he gets people to see movies that many other times they wouldn’t.
- Five highest grossing Scorsese films (not adjusted)
- Two highest grossing Tarantino films (not adjusted)
- Highest grossing Cameron film (adjusted/6th biggest film ever)
- Highest grossing Nolan original
- Highest grossing AGI film
- First and third highest grossing Baz films (third being Leo’s mainstream breakthrough pre-Titanic)
Many of these were in the past decade when superheroes completely took over the box office. The craziest thing is they are all originals/adaptations. While Tom Cruise and Will Smith can still pull huge numbers in sequels/franchise films, Leo does it while getting mauled by a bear, stuttering through Hollywood, OCD’ing through Hollywood, etc. Even his box office misfires (Body of Lies, Revolution Road, J. Edgar) pull in better numbers than they would without him.
Lastly, Catch Me If You Can was one more Spielberg classic/box office hit and a passing of the torch from Tom Hanks as movie star dominating the adult drama scene in the 90s to Leo doing it ever since.
On a related note, get well soon, Hanks. We love you.
I think the only movie I watched more than Popeye on nascent VHS between 1982 and 1986 was The Beastmaster. I'm pretty sure my dad taped Popeye off HBO or Showtime, and I still remember when the tape would go a bit wonky from the scenes I would rewind and rewatch often during that time. I loved the Popeye cartoons when I was a kid. I loved all the old stuff from the 30's through 60's that would be on local TV reruns in Atlanta. Popeye, Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, and of course, The Three Stooges. What I love best about Altman's Popeye is that it is a wonderfully weird and sweet film. It feels like a throwback even though it was made in the modern era at the tail end of the auteur director decade of the 1970s and released in 1980. That someone like Robert Altman made that particular film feels like something of a minor miracle. He was a director with a singular voice and he never made a film like Popeye before or after.
Speaking of a director with a singular voice, I've been combing through Hulu the last couple of weeks for things to binge, and while the new FX on Hulu has been wonderful, giving me an opportunity to rewatch Justified while my series set is still in storage, and getting started on Archer again before the next season debuts in May, I found and rewatched a show I hadn't seen since the beginning of streaming about a decade ago: Spaced, from the fiendishly funny minds of Jessica Stevenson, Simon Pegg, and Edgar Wright. You can easily binge that show in a weekend, as there are very few episodes, but all of them are zany and brilliant. You can see the DNA of the Cornetto Trilogy while you watch, and even some of the same jokes. I also recommend a funny show starring Darren Boyd called Spy about a hapless single dad who becomes an MI-5 Agent and a particularly very British, kinda soapy show starring the amazing and brilliant and wonderful Stephen Fry called Kingdom. The last is not in HD, which is a bit of a letdown, but some Hulu shows are weirdly not in HD even though they've been given the HD treatment like Star Trek: The Next Generation. Perhaps Netflix owns the rights to TNG's HD masters? Does anyone here know?
Stay safe. Wash your hands. Sneeze into your elbow like Obama showed us. Listen to the CDC and not the media which is invested in causing panic to increase failing ratings. Don't hoard toilet paper (weird). Do some fun things like try to cook fancy meals with what you have in your house. Maybe move all your living room furniture against the walls and pitch a tent for some inside camping, or if you have a backyard, do it there. Have video game tournaments playing Madden or FIFA or Halo. Binge to your heart's content. Or do it right, turn off social media, shut down your laptops, phones, and tablets and have a good old-fashioned movie marathon with no distractions!
Popeye was one of my favorite movies when I was about 7 or 8. I haven't seen it in a while, but I plan on revisiting it after hearing you and Scott give it a massive "love-fest" on 80s All Over.
My love for Popeye grew from you and Scott’s love for Popeye. Great way to start.
I'm working on keeping up with screeners and reviews for my own site, and there are many I can do- thankfully- without going to the theatre.
I promise I will be getting to "Popeye" this year- it's part of my older films review series, and I plan on making it my Altman bookend with "McCabe & Mrs. Miller."
Yesterday I rewatched "Black Lake"- a psychological horror film I just watched at the Women in Horror Film Festival- along with "Spenser Confidential" (meh) and "Starship Troopers," which I'm still not a big fan of, but appreciate a bit more compared to when I watched it in '97.
Today started with finally watching "American Psycho" for the aforementioned "older films" series, and I'm currently in the middle of a "Metropolis" rewatch of the 2010 restoration; I forgot how much weirder that version is, and the two-hour plus one is already strange. (I'm curious, though- you guys mentioned several reissues on "'80s All Over," is there a reason you guys didn't discuss the 1984 restoration of "Metropolis" by Gorgio Moroder?)
I loved Robert Altman: The Oral Biography. But I still have never watched this! I've been finally watching better call saul but maybe I'll break it up with this (and Annihilation, which I've never seen, though I did read the book)
I've always loved Popeye, from the time I saw it in theaters to now.
Hi Drew,
Have you considered relaunching 80s Allover podcast but just focusing on one movie per episode? That way you could put out an episode weekly or fortnightly and it would be much more managable. A lot of people just enjoy listening to you go deep on a film, especially when it involves some Hollywood back story we may not be aware of. The newsletter format is great, but the podcast was so convenient to listen to in the car or commute to work etc. would love to know if you have plans to relaunch it!
Is there not a Popeye bluray? All I could find on Amazon was the DVD.
Also -- Pluto TV, the free-with-ads streaming/on demand service which is partially backed by Paramount, has this movie available on demand. Actually, their live streaming movie channels seem to have a minor addiction to it; every 2 to 3 days one of them will be running it at some point (especially the Family feed.)