And from Popeye to Punch-Drunk-Love

On a less serious note, I was a huge fan of Popeye during my childhood years. I even ate my spinach hoping to be as strong as him. I still remember when I was five; my father told me a Popeye movie was being made. I was wildly enthusiastic about this news. At least until I discovered we were moving to Upper Volta and would never get to see the movie. My world came crashing down. I didn’t want to leave. But for some reason, my parents felt it wasn’t a strong enough reason to stay in Belgium. So we left. No Popeye movie for me.

I did finally see it, many years later. And if I remember correctly, it was in the Dutch Club in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Every Saturday afternoon, they’d show a children’s movie for us kids. The film, as it turned out, was terrible. Even though it featured Robin Williams as Popeye, it just seemed long and winding and everything but fun. Nothing like the cartoons.

The film did however give us this wonderfully odd little song by Shelley Duvall: “He needs me“. The song was used again in Punch-Drunk-Love, a quirky song for a really quirky film. This movie on the other hand, I can only highly recommend.