VISUAL ARTS

 Except for his evident fascination with eccentrics, Robert Altman might seem an odd choice to direct a live-action film about the famous animated sailor. But in the end, this Popeye is another of Altman’s many investigations into the workings of a community. Plot and incident are less the point here than is the observation of Popeye and Olive Oyl, their son Swee’ Pea, their parents, their friend Wimpy and the other inhabitants of the seaside town of Sweethaven. While Altman tips his hat to the Fleischer brothers’ cartoons of the 1930s (originally distributed by Paramount), Jules Feiffer’s screenplay resurrects the populist sentiment of E.C. Segar’s original comic strips.