| Friend or Phony | |
| Number 188 | |
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Friend or Phony is Popeye's 188th cartoon, released on June 20, 1952 by Famous Studios. It recycles footage from two earlier shorts from the same studio.
Plot[]
Popeye receives a telegram from Bluto where the latter says that he is dying from the sailor's last beating. Popeye goes to visit his "old friend" at his apartment, where the latter feigns injury by wearing fake bandages and lying in his bed. Bluto asks Popeye to get rid of his spinach, reminding him of their confrontation in Tar with a Star, with Popeye almost agreeing until he realizes he was acting in self defense after Bluto's attempt to murder him.
Bluto now proceeds to reminisce about his spinach-fueled defeat in I'll Be Skiing Ya, then pretends to die, so the saddened Popeye honors his "last wish" and throws his spinach can out the window and onto a passing truck. The pretender seizes the chance to smash his bed onto the sailor, punch him out of the apartment all the way to a construction site and further hammer him. S.O.S.-shaped smoke from Popeye's pipe summons back the can, however, with the reinvigorated Popeye now sending his phony friend to the hospital for real.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Friend or Phony at the Internet Movie Database