This is definitely a Robert Altman movie. The camera angle, range, movement, background action, set placement and lighting reminded me so much of the original MASH that it was almost distracting.
A GREAT COMEDIAN AND AN EVEN GREATER MAN DIED ON AUGUST 11, 2014. REST IN PEACE ROBIN.
Yeah, this is unmistakably a Robert Altman film. So, I see the similarities to MASH. But, the Altman film that it most resembles, I say, is the great McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
A strange man who often mumbles to himself comes to a "frontier"-type town, shakes things up by opposing others who exert or want to exert control over the town, and finds romance with a gal there. The town is littered with tons of odd characters, some prominent, some more just "ambient". The town drunk is played by Robert Fortier in both films! Songs play a key role in commenting on the characters.
And I'm probably forgetting some other obvious parallels right now!
For the Altman fan in me, it's fun for me to see Popeye as an extremely bizarre remake of McCabe and Mrs. Miller!
Matthew
Oh! I just remembered! Both films -- one of them being the family-friendly Popeye, mind you -- feature a "house of ill repuke"! And the last time I saw Popeye, I was charmed to notice the homage to the ending of McCabe and Mrs. Miller in the bordello scene: in the background, in a little side-room, you glimpse one of the prostitues holding and admiring a vase... a larger version of the bottle-container Julie Christie grooves on in McCabe!
Matthew