We watched The Long Goodbye (1973) last night, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was in one short scene where he took his shirt off. Amazing. It reminded me of one of my favorite movie viewings, seeing Pumping Iron at a pre-release showing in Boston.
When Pumping Iron (1977), a pseudo documentary on body building starring Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno, came out the sport was still relatively misunderstood and looked down upon. (Note the physiques of the male heroes back then compared to now.)
The producers decided to market the film as an art film (it is, after all, about sculpting the human body), and did advanced publicity to both artists and body builders in various markets. A friend of ours, who was an artist, got tickets for the pre-opening night showing of the film in Boston.
About five or six of us, sort of artsy kind of people, were sitting in a row. Behind us were seated a number of guys with no necks, some of whom had trouble fitting into movie seats.
The movie opened with one man standing on an empty stage. His body was oiled and he was wearing a posing suit, but he looked pretty much like an ordinary guy, nothing really special.
Then the music started. Thus Spake Zarathustra. The music builds and builds and finally hits that awesome crescendo – tah DAH!
At that moment the guy on stage in the movie flexed every muscle in his body and BAM! every tendon and vein popped out. UGH! those of us in the artsy row reeled back in disgust.
At the same time, the guys behind us started hooting and hollering, ALL RIGHT!!!
From there the movie was fascinating, providing all sorts of insights into the sport. Like Schwarzenegger could add another inch to his bicep easy, but he’d have to also add an inch to two other muscles along his arm and shoulder, which I’m not sure I even have, in order to maintain the symmetry required to be at the top of the game.
What made the movie especially enjoyable was Schwarzenegger’s personality. There was a captivating edginess about him, a sense of humor, and a bit of a mean streak. Like the left handed complements he gave to his competitors, sowing doubt, and the young German body builder who asked him for hints and was told that the latest trend was to make low pitched grunts when posing low, and high pitched squeaks when posing high.
Armed with this gem, the young German did just that in a competition.
Schwarzenegger is also shown smoking dope at one point in the film, as I said, a likable sort of character.
Here’s the sad news. Seeing that movie with the artists and body builders was one of the memorable movie experiences of my life. Years later I was telling some people about it and of course had to find a place to rent and play it. In anticipation I waited for that opening scene to see the reaction of the people I was with.
It opened with shots of Schwarzenegger working out in Gold’s Gym. Wait a second… That’s not right, it wasn’t Schwarzenegger and the guy was on stage with Stauss setting the scene…
So I researched it, and it turns out that as Schwarzenegger’s political aspirations were growing he bought the rights to the film, edited it so it started with him instead of that other guy, and took out all those edgy bits and the dope smoking. Sigh.
–Dennis
