Spree Lunch

I rather enjoyed this one. It features the usual suspects engaged in a "diner war." Popeye is just opening for business when Bluto shows up with his own diner. Words are exchanged and war is on. Who should come walking down the street but J. Wellington Wimpy (I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today). He becomes the pawn in this thing as each of the participants tries to feed him unfettered. There are some great seamless sight gags all the way through, mostly table turning, using food. The subtleties go out the window in the end and our cheapskate customer prospers. It was nice to not see the two of them battling over Olive, who does not appear in this one. It creates a different dynamic. One of the better Popeyes of the modern era.

Popeye and Bluto run competing diners. They fight over Wimpy's custom in the next-to-last of the Fleischer/Famous Studios long-running Popeye cartoons.

Between the decline in revenue from the shrinking number of theaters running full programs -- the 'selected short subjects' that accompanied features -- and the rising cost of producing cartoons, Paramount saw no reason to pay King Features a fee for each new cartoon; the backlog of Popeye cartoons was more than sufficient to satisfy demand. Nonetheless, there were contracts to fulfill, so the last few cartoons were made at a slightly shorter length than usual. That's why this one seems to end a bit abruptly.

Popeye's singing while he sweeps away the dirt on the sidewalk-entrance of "Popeye's Diner."

As he finishes, he hears an obnoxious horn blasting, signaling the arrival of Bluto who is pulling his brand new "Bluto's Diner" into the parking lot across the street. "Bluto," says Popeye, "that is un-etical!"

"Listen, runt, a little competition never hurt anybody," responds Bluto. Popeye answers, "I says ya gotta move that chow wagon." It gets heated and the war of diners is now officially on when the first customer - "Wimpy" - walks down the street.

The two do everything they can to have Wimpy as the customer and some of the gags are clever, such as the Mexican jumping beans, the underground magnet and the pepper spray. All these are used by one of the combatants to draw Wimpy back to their diner. The ending was clever, too, with both of the hot-tempered macho men winding up losers to the inventive (and always hungry) Wimpy.

This was the final cartoon in a nice two-disc DVD collection of Popeye cartoons from the '30s through the '50s. It was called the "75th Anniversary Collector's Edition" and it wasn't expensive. It was well worth the money.

Bluto pulls his diner right across the street from Popeye's Diner. It's immediate competition as Wimpy walks by looking for a bite to eat.

I'm not sure how Wimpy's voice is supposed to sound like. I just wasn't expecting that. His Tuesday phrase gets a little reworking and I think it's the best version ever. It makes sense that he orders the hamburger first before talking about the payment. Also, Gladly is such a great word and really sells the con. This one has some good gags and a classic ending. I remember this ending although I'm not sure if I saw it here. It is simply a great way to finish this off.

Spree Lunch (1957)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Popeye and Bluto open restaurants right across from one another so when Wimpy comes walking by they must fight to try and get his business.

SPREE LUNCH was the next to last Popeye short and it's one of the best. This one here was highly creative in regards to what it does in order to get a laugh and the film is willing to do just about anything for that laugh. There are many highlights to be found here including some wonderful gags being played as Wimpy is a pawn in the game as he gets dragged, sneezed and blown from one location to the next. This all leads up to a wild food fight where Wimpy is certainly the winner. If you're a fan of Popeye then you're going to love this short because it's just so wild, over-the-top and downright fun. It's certainly one of the best that you're going to see.