History Film / Popeye

The story deals with Popeye searching for his [[LongLostRelative long lost pappy]] (Ray Walston) while caught in a LoveTriangle with Olive Oyl (Shelley Duval]) and Bluto (Paul L. Smith).

** Bill Irwin's miming skills come in handy as he looks like he's actually getting cratoonishly pummeled by Bluto.

** Swee'pea's introduction in the movie is a big ShoutOut to the way he was introduced in the comic strip. [[hottip:*:In the comic, he arrives in a package addressed to Popeye, and the package makes so many strange sounds that Popeye and Wimpy think it must contain a dangerous animal and are about to kill it when they discover that the package contains a baby. In the movie, Popeye picks up a basket which he mistakes for Olive's, and Olive hears the baby's rattle and is convinced that there's a rattlesnake in the basket, and Popeye opens the basket to deal with the dangerous creature before he discovers it's a baby.]]

* PopStarComposer: All of the songs save "I'm Popeye The Sailor Man" were written by HarryNilsson.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "He's Large" can be rather... awkward, due to this.

** Possible FridgeBrilliance: At this point in the movie Olive is considering leaving Bluto. She may be trying to think of something positive about him, and is coming up short. "Well, he's...large. And he's...um...large..."

* DistressedDamsel - Guess.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: [[spoiler: Popeye does not like ''spinach''. No, really! Not until the very last scene, anyway.]]

* MythologyGag - At Olive and Bluto's engagement party a man can be heard complaining about Olive getting married. This man is Ham Gravy, who was Olive's fiance in the original ''Thimble Theater'' comic strip before he was PutOnABus and Popeye took his place.
** The movie, in fact, has ''many'' old ''Thimble Theater'' characters in bigger or smaller roles -- most of them never made it to any of the cartoons, but they're easily recognizable to fans of the comic.

** "First man who is dead, loses!"

* OldShame - RobinWilliams basically sees this movie as his old shame.
--> [[SelfDeprecation "If you play it backwards, it has a plot."]]
** During one of his stand-up specials from the 80's, while pretending to have a conversation with his son:
--> Robin: ''Popeye'' wasn't good enough for you...
--> His son: ''Popeye'' wasn't good enough for ''anyone'', who're you kidding?
** The Mediterranean village in Malta where the movie was filmed, however, [[InvertedTrope has become a giant tribute to the movie.]]

* ParentalBonus - The town drunk is named Barnacle Bill, a reference to a BawdySong from the early 20th century.
** More than that, "Beware of Barnacle Bill" was the name of an early Popeye cartoon, which contains a cleaned-up version of the song (and with Bluto in the role of Barnacle Bill). [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cTmhG2x58w Behold!]]

* [[PrecisionFStrike Precision "D" Strike]]: In Bluto's "I'm Mean" song.
** [[ClusterFBomb Cluster "H.A." Bomb]]: Pappy, during the rescue mission.

* {{Retraux}}: The opening starts off with a hand drawn throwback to the original MaxAndDaveFleischer Popeye cartoons made during TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, the animation being outsourced to Creator/HannaBarbera (which was making new Popeye cartoons for [=TV=] at the time).

* StylisticSuck - Bluto's red eyes POV shot is just Popeye, Olive and Swee'Pea dressed in red in front of a red background.

* TypeCasting: Shelley Duvall is the only actress on Earth who could nail the role of Olive Oyl. One reviewer called her "eerily perfect".

* WhatCouldHaveBeen - The parts of Popeye and Olive Oyl were originally intended for DustinHoffman and [[SaturdayNightLive Gilda Radner]].

The story deals with Popeye searching for his [[LongLostRelative long lost pappy]] ([[MyFavoriteMartian Ray Walston]]) while caught in a LoveTriangle with Olive Oyl ([[Film/TheShining Shelley Duvall]]) and Bluto ([[Film/{{Dune}} Paul L. Smith]]).

* CatchPhrase - "[[IAmWhatIAm I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam!]]" Even turned into a song.

** [[ClusterFBomb Cluster "H.A." Bomb]] Pappy, during the rescue mission.

** Bill Irwin's miming skills come in handy as he looks like he's actually getting catoonishly pummled by Bluto.

* BrokenRecord - Castor Oyl when demanding an apology.

** For some unknown reason, "I'm Mean" and "Children" are missing from UK releases.

--> ''Popeye'' wasn't good enough for you...
--> ''Popeye'' wasn't good enough for ''anyone'', who're you kidding?

* {{Retraux}}: The opening starts off with a hand drawn throwback to the original MaxAndDaveFleischer Popeye cartoons made during TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, the animation being outsourced to Hanna-Barbera (which was making new Popeye cartoons for [=TV=] at the time).

The story deals with Popeye searching for his [[LongLostRelative long lost pappy]] ([[MyFavoriteMartian Ray Walston]]) while caught in a LoveTriangle with Olive Oyl ([[TheShining Shelley Duvall]]) and Bluto ([[{{Dune}} Paul L. Smith]]).

!!The Popeye movie provides examples of:

* TypeCasting: Shelley Duvall is the only actress on Earth who could nail the role of Olive Oyl.

* BriarPatching - An unintentional example, as Popeye didn't even ''know'' that spinach would make him strong until the villains forced it on him.

* Magazine/{{MAD}} - ''Flopeye''.
** at the end of the MAD Satire ''Flopeye'', the cartoon Popeye, who's narrating the satire for the audience, steps in and clobbers Robin Williams' Popeye, when the latter claims "But I don't likes spinach" sending him overboard. "What de hell IS dis? Since when don't Popeye likes spinach? Everybody knows that, except the makers of this disgustipatin' pitchur!" As Robin-Williams-Popeye is dragged off by seagulls, Cartoon-Popeye tells the audience, "I yam what I yam, but that guy wasn't even CLOSE!"

A 1980 [[TheMusical Musical]] LiveActionAdaptation starring RobinWilliams as the eponymous character and directed by RobertAltman.