Braccio di Ferro

This is not a bad cartoon series, featuring Popeye the Sailor, who woos the skinny Olive Oyl while battling it out with his nemesis, Brutus. Definitely a cartoon that has dragged through the test of times, but a classic and somewhat funny one for the kids to enjoy. It makes eating spinach a delicacy.

Grade B-

I do remember well the original Popeye series of between 230 and 240 cartoons, produced between 1933 and 1957 by Paramount Pictures, later Famous Studios, with permission of Elzie Segar and King Features Syndicate. In 1957, a few months before the last of the series was made, the Popeyes came to television, syndicated by Associated Artists Productions. Then in 1960, I began to see the brand-new Popeye cartoon series. Though I had seen the oldies for three years, I had not tired of them, and had mixed feelings about the new ones. I do not remember MANY of them, but a few stuck. "It Only Hurts When They Laughs" was amusing. Two others I still recall. One was Popeye's Pizza Palace, with Popeye as pizza chef, Wimpy mooching hamburger pizzas, and Brutus (main nemesis instead of Bluto) demanding a tamale pizza. Popeye declared that they do not make tamale pizzas; is there such a pizza in real life? The other one that I still recall was Popeye's Junior Headache, in which he baby sat the bratty Diesel Oyl while Aunt Olive was having her hair done at the beauty parlor. Popeye was reluctant to baby sit Diesel Oyl (daughter of Olive's brother Castor Oyl?) as he was fatigued from lack of sleep, but still took the job. Popeye first tried telling Diesel a story about a witch; she interrupted "Which witch?" Popeye retorted "How does I know which witch?" and pleaded to be allowed to sleep and dream up an ending, but Diesel insisted that he play horse (for which he lacked energy). All in all, it was amusing.

I read, back in 1960, that this new Popeye cartoon package was result of dispute between King Features, that owned the rights, and Associated Artists, which syndicated the first Popeye series; as I recall, King Features was miffed at A.A.P. syndicating the series (to put in on television) which was not part of the original arrangement between Paramount and King Features. That was understandable as in the 1930's, when the first original Popeyes were produced, there were no televisions, not even Muntz TV's! This, together with King Features' wanting the limelight, led to this new made-for-TV cartoon package. Be that as it may, SOME of the new Popeyes were amusing, while others stank. It made watching the adventures of the spinach-eating seaman interesting, b

I remember having as a child a video of this classic series that made me laugh. The animation is good as it is vibrantly comical based and colourful. The music and story lines are also good to the comical origins of the original Popeye comic strips and earlier cinematic debuts. The characters are lively and rich that are adaptable in any imaginative setting so no matter what the story line the basis is the rich juvenile humour and the characters. The story lines were also written well and imaginative making it a nice fit with the basis of the comics. The series was very enjoyable but sadly today nobody does good cartoons any more and cartoons such as Popeye the sailor will be artistic classics as the passion, skill and humours not found any more.

Popeye, the Sailor Man, was one of the first cartoons that I remember watching in both black and white and color before I would go to school in the morning. I remember his love, Olive Oil, and the characters like the baby, the man who will you Tuesday for a Hamburger today, his rival for Olive Oyl's affections, and so on. Popeye always became strong once he ate his spinach and his muscles rippled in his shirt. He became a powerhouse and defended his honor and his girlfriend. Anyway, the silliness of Popeye was outweighed by his decency, his character, and the story lines. They would be repetitive but I don't think I ever stopped watching the show on purpose. But it was always a joy to wake up and watch Popeye before tackling kindergarten class where you needed the courage to get through the day.

It is not easy or fair to define the fascination about this character. Or about Olive. And Bluto. Sure, the inner child has the answers but , after decades, Popeye the sailor remains ...the hero. Because, very late you saw him as a piece of advertising or as character of a commercial campain. And today, he remains fascinating, provocative, giving the taste of simple, basic realities defining us