Robin Williams has brought a wide variety of characters to life. He was a robot with feelings in “The bicentennial man”a man trapped inside a game in Jumanji, an iconic literature professor in “Dead Poets Society” and more. But what perhaps not everyone remembers about this charismatic actor is that long before he was a star, he gave life to none other than Popeye the Sailor Man.
a charismatic sailor
It was the year 1980 when “Popeye” arrived on movie screens. It was a film that —just like Disney does today with its animated films— adapted from the well-known cartoon from the 60s.
Back then, a magnetic 29-year-old actor had put a pipe in his mouth, a sailor suit and an anchor tattoo on one of his prominent and cartoonish arms.
His name was Robin Williams, an interpreter who until then had only participated in one film as a secondary and who arrived willing to assume his leading role with all his talent.
That film would also be joined by Shelley Duvall —the remembered Wendy Torrance in “The Shining”— as sweet Olivia, Popeye’s wife, who, far from fleeing as she did from the terrifying Jack Nicholson, this time would cling to Williams.
What is “Popeye” about?
Normally, such a literal adaptation would have been strange; And indeed it is. But if there was someone who did like this cartoonish aspect of his character, it was Robin.
The film follows Popeye, who arrives in the small seaside town of Sweethaven in search of his father who has been lost for several years. There, he falls in love with a woman named Olivia, who arranges for her to marry a powerful thug named Bluto. This will trigger a love story in which the sailor must resort to his spinach to save the day.
The full film can be found today on YouTube dubbed into Spanish, so you can watch it for free.
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