POPEYE

Wednesday, July 23, 6:00 p.m. & Saturday, July 26, 2:00 p.m. | Now regarded as a cult classic and nostalgic favorite, POPEYE was a critical disaster—though a financial success, earning more than double its budget at the box office. Altman’s musical adaptation of E. C. Segar's comic, starring Robin Williams as the titular sailor man and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, generally bewildered critics, who couldn’t get “all aboard!” Altman’s vision of Popeye’s adventures searching for his long lost father, falling in love with Olive Oyl, and raising the adopted Swee’ Pee. Newsday likened watching POPEYE to being “trapped in a stalled elevator or a doomed submarine with raving lunatics without fresh air.” Forty-five years on, however, at the core of this eccentric comedy, with its ambitious production design and committed performances by Williams and Duvall, Altman is exploring familiar waters: a story about human behavior. Altman and Popeye aren’t an incongruous pairing: they both yam what they yam. 35mm print courtesy of the Robert Altman Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Awards & Nominations

Nominee - Best Fantasy Film, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films

Robert Altman Centennial | June–August 2025

Robert Altman (1925–2006) is one of the rare directors whose name alone conjures his style. Say a film is “Altmanesque” and you’ll get nods of understanding—most cinephiles know the auteur’s calling cards: large ensemble casts; overlapping dialogue; a roving camera, and a subtle critique of the American Dream. Altman was prolific (a hardworking midwesterner), directing 36 feature films, and well over 100 episodes of television. Nominated for five Best Director Academy Awards, Altman was presented with an Honorary Academy Award in 2006—and he passed away nine months later, at the age of 81. When asked by Playboy Magazine in 1976, “When you look into your future, what do you want to have accomplished?” Altman answered, “All I want is to do what I'm doing. What else would I do?” 

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu