The Spinach Roadster

Popeye drives up to Olive Oyl's house in his new automobile. Bluto follows up with a much better and newer car. Olive insists on going with Popeye despite the older clunker. Bluto tries to sabotage them. When Popeye's car clunks out, he has the spinach to fix it.

Bluto's car needs to sound better. It doesn't really sound like a car. It sounds like something small. Otherwise, this is a perfectly good Popeye cartoon with the traditional Popeye trio. It actually surprised me when Olive decided to follow Popeye. That doesn't always happen. This is the standard Popeye short and it is very well done.

This one is a battle of automobiles: Popeye's old jalopy versus Bluto's streamlined roadster. Both cars, by the way, still look very cool some 70 years later!

These macho contests between these two famous animated adversaries usually have at least three things in common: 1 - Bluto gets the jump on Popeye and starts the trouble; 2 - Bluto will use every dirty trick to beat Popeye; 3 - Bluto usually is winning the fight until the sailor man has his can of spinach.

Knowing this, the cartoons are still entertaining because of the various humorous drawings and dialog between the two. Usually Olive is involved and she, too, with her extra long arms and legs and big feet, is fun to see.

A twist to this story has Popeye giving his car four cans of spinach, after Bluto had demolished and disassembled it. Our hero downs a can, too. The results are predictable, which also means very funny.

The Spinach Roadster (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Popeye and his junk car show up to pick Olive Oyl up for a date. Just then Bluto pulls up in a fancy new car but Olive rejects him so he decides to follow the two and cause trouble.

I must admit that I'm a little shocked that Olive Oyl didn't go with Bluto and his new car since she's usually going back and forth between the men. With that tidbit out of the way, this is another winner for Fleischer who manages to add a few clever twists with all the non- stop violence and action that fans expect from a Popeye short. There's no question that the highlight comes toward the end when we get to see what spinach can do for a car. Hopefully no one in real life ever tried this.

"Spinach Roadster" was illustrative of the relationship between Popeye and Bluto, which varied from one episode to another. Bluto was made originally, by Max and Dave Fleischer, Popeye's nemesis, though he appeared in only one or two episodes in the Thimble Theater comic strip of Elzie Segar's, BRUTUS being the REAL heavy then; he and Popeye were later often friendly rivals instead. In this Popeye cartoon, Bluto and Popeye were showcasing their cars. Popeye opened by driving his tin Lizzie, singing a new song, "When I'm at the Wheel of my Automobile", with anchor as brake, naturally as he WAS a sailor. Bluto drove up in his sharp new car, offering Olive a ride, but she was already going with Popeye, in what Bluto called "that piece of junk". Popeye got that rattletrap started and drove off with Olive; Bluto was determined to sabotage the jaunt. First, Bluto changed the sign that read Route "D" to say DETOUR, arrow pointing toward a rock-strewn by-road. (Route "D" IS really only make-believe, as it is not likely that there IS a place where letters instead of numbers are used for routes; I once envisioned that sort of place, but it was just fantasie.) Popeye negotiated it, causing rocks to fall on Bluto. So, Bluto caused the gas to run out and sabotaged the jalopy, driving away with Olive. Popeye opened his repair kit to find FOUR CANS OF SPINACH, naturally. These gave him strength and got his car running. Popeye finally punched Bluto and his car, so he pedaled away boo-hoo-ing on a scooter, sniveling about loss of his fine car (showing him to be adult-sized baby, which, sadly, many supposed grown-ups are in reality); Popeye triumphantly drives on with Olive. Amusing way of illustrating what Popeye and Bluto are li

Popeye takes Olive Oyl out for a spin in his old jalopy. Bluto offers her a ride in his roadster, but she refuses. Bluto tries to sabotage their jaunt.

It's another very solid Popeye from the Fleischer studios. Although I think their cartoons peaked in the Pre-Code er, they continued to turn out excellent pieces, in part because of their use of new and evolving technology, like the tabletop set-ups here that add a third dimension, good gagwork, and a general sense that at this stage they were the only studio fighting the trend to make films like Walt Disney -- Schlesinger's studio was about to get in on that thought. But it's the constant barrage of gags that make this fun, and the way that Gus Wicke, who voices Bluto, manages a properly villanous laugh, that keep me happy.