Pumping Iron + Pumping Iron II (1977-85)

Pumping Iron (1977)

Dirs. George Butler + Robert Fiore

A documentary's success is appreciable when it not only pleases its target audience but also holds the attention of a viewer who ordinarily has zero interest in the topic onto which it turns its lens.

Such it is with me and body building, a sport / discipline that I care nothing for. But the spotlight cast on the lifestyle by film-makers George Butler and Robert Fiore makes fascinating viewing.

The egos, arrogance, and rivalries are there, but they're balanced by a huge amount of competitor encouragement and friendly advice. How much of it was chosen for that specific purpose is unknown.

What comes through the most is that an unshakeable belief in oneself is just as important to success as hours spent gurning at the gym.

The film is famous for featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger before his Hollywood career took off. The Austrian athlete is both surprising and utterly disgusting as a master manipulator, psyching his opponents out with a broad smile and faux friendship, as each man strives to win the Mr. Olympia contest. It's not an attitude that inspires respect or admiration, in my opinion, but it evidently served him well in the long run. In retrospect, it's no surprise that he went into politics in later years.

Also in the running is US born athlete Lou Ferrigno, who shortly thereafter found fame as the green alter ego of Dr. David Banner in The Incredible Hulk TV Series + Movies (1977-82). Ferrigno's personal struggles seem more numerous and affecting than Schwarzenegger's, but his attitude toward other people means he emerges as the better man where it counts.

PS. Arnie does something remarkable with a hot water bottle that I'll probably never forget.

Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985)

Dir. George Butler

It begins like a bad 80s music video, but thereafter adopts a similar fly on the wall approach as the previous film, exploring contestant motivations.

Its focus is a trio of women competing for the Caesars World Cup, namely Bev Francis, Rachel McLish, and Carla Dunlap, whose most defining traits (as I see them) are sincerity and power, narcissism, and social awareness, respectively.

The Caesars Palace judges are a farcical bunch of non-professionals that I wouldn't entrust to change a Vegas lightbulb. In one scene it's suggested (and proved) that for a couple of them a calculator is "too complicated" a device. Their credibility is further reduced when discussing femininity, suggesting that most of them are in effect judging the entrants as if they were at a beauty pageant.

Alongside the honour of winning a manufactured beauty pageant bodybuilding contest, there was a $25,000 USD prize up for grabs, payable in currency or the casino's own chips. No words needed. An inflation calculator tells me that at time of writing (June 2023) that's approx $70,661, which could buy a lot of gym equipment.