Popeye (film)/Trivia

Trivia about Popeye (film) includes:

• Actor Allusion: The actors playing Popeye and Pappy both starred as an alien in a sitcom. Robin Williams was Mork in Mork and Mindy and Ray Walston was the Martian in My Favorite Martian (TV).
• Auteur License - Robert Altman, best-known at the time for iconoclastic comedies and dramas like Nashville and M*A*S*H, getting the reins to a family musical is a perfect example of this. Because the film wasn't as profitable as hoped and reviews were so mixed, he immediately lost it and while he did a lot of film and TV work over the rest of The Eighties, none of it got mainstream attention until 1992's The Player, which triggered a Career Resurrection.
• Old Shame: Robin Williams basically saw this movie as his old shame.

"If you play it backwards, it has a plot."

And in one of his stand-up bits, an imaginary dialogue between himself and his then-infant son included:

"Nanoo-nanoo wasn't good enough for you? Popeye wasn't good enough for you?"
"Popeye wasn't good for anyone!"

• • The Mediterranean village in Malta where the movie was filmed, however, has become a giant tribute to the movie.
• What Could Have Been - The parts of Popeye and Olive Oyl were originally intended for Dustin Hoffman and Gilda Radner.
  • Eugene the Jeep was originally going to be in the film, but he was written out because the special effect would have been too expensive. Eugene was going to be a Living MacGuffin with telepathic powers. The script was rewritten so that Swee'Pea took over this role.

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