Pumping Iron is a 1977
docudramaIn film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
about the world of bodybuilding, focusing on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and
Mr. OlympiaMr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
competitions and the 100 days leading up to them. The film was inspired by a book of the same name, written by
Charles GainesCharles L. Gaines is an American writer and outdoorsman, notable for his works on fly fishing, his role in the development of paintball, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film of the same name.-Early...
and George Butler. The film focuses nominally on the competition between
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and his primary competitor for the title of Mr. Olympia,
Lou FerrignoLouis Jude "Lou" Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer/consultant, and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron...
. The film also features brief segments focusing on bodybuilders
Franco ColumbuFranco Columbu is an Italian actor, former bodybuilder and World's Strongest Man competitor.-Bodybuilding:Columbu was born in Ollolai, Sardinia . Starting out his athletic career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding, winning...
and
Mike KatzMichael Katz is a former American IFBB professional bodybuilder, most famous for his appearance with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1977 bodybuilding documentary film Pumping Iron. Mike Katz worked as a Jr. High School gym teacher while training as an amateur bodybuilder...
, in addition to appearances by
Ken WallerKen Waller is an American former bodybuilder featured in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Waller also won the 1975 International Federation of Bodybuilders Mr. Universe contest in Pretoria, South Africa...
,
Ed CorneyEd Corney is an American former professional bodybuilder.-Bodybuilding career:Ed Corney is a legendary bodybuilder from the Golden Age of bodybuilding and is widely regarded as the greatest poser that the sport has ever known. He has won the IFBB Mr...
,
Serge NubretSerge Nubret was a French professional bodybuilder, bodybuilding federation leader, movie actor and author. Serge was awarded many bodybuilding titles, including Mr. Europe , Mr. Universe and WBBG Pro. Mr. World...
, and other famous bodybuilders of the era.
Although the filmmakers ran out of funds to finish production, when the film was ultimately released in 1977 it became a box office success, making Schwarzenegger a household name. The film also popularizing the then-niche culture of bodybuilding, helping to inspire the fitness craze of the 1980s; following the film's release, there was a marked increase in the number of commercial gyms in the United States. The film was released on CED,
VHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, and then re-released on
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2003 for the 25th Anniversary of the theatrical debut. The film inspired two sequels, George Butler's
Pumping Iron II: The Women in 1985, and David and Scott McVeigh's
Raw Iron in 2002, a documentary about the making of
Pumping Iron and how the film affected the lives of those who appeared in it.
Plot
In 1975,
bodybuildersBodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
are preparing for the upcoming Mr. Universe amateur competition and Mr. Olympia professional competition in
PretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The first part of the film documents the life of
Mike KatzMichael Katz is a former American IFBB professional bodybuilder, most famous for his appearance with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1977 bodybuilding documentary film Pumping Iron. Mike Katz worked as a Jr. High School gym teacher while training as an amateur bodybuilder...
, a hopeful for the title of Mr. Universe. Katz's being bullied in his youth for being Jewish and wearing glasses spurred him to become a pro football player; when his career with the
New York JetsThe New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
was ended by a leg injury, Katz became a bodybuilder. His psychological balance is thrown off by a prank by fellow contender
Ken WallerKen Waller is an American former bodybuilder featured in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Waller also won the 1975 International Federation of Bodybuilders Mr. Universe contest in Pretoria, South Africa...
, who steals Katz's lucky shirt before the competition. Waller wins Mr. Universe, and Katz comes in fourth. Fighting back tears, he cheerfully appraises the situation before deciding to call home and check up on his wife and children before congratulating Waller.
The film then switches focus to the rivalry between
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and
Lou FerrignoLouis Jude "Lou" Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer/consultant, and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron...
, professional bodybuilders competing for the title of Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger, a ten-year veteran of bodybuilding, has won Mr. Olympia for five consecutive years, and intends to retire after a final competition. Ferrigno is determined to be the man to finally beat Schwarzenegger. The film contrasts each man's personality, home environment, and training style: Schwarzenegger is extroverted, aggressive, and works out with other bodybuilders at
Gold's GymGold's Gym International, Inc. is an international chain of co-ed fitness centers originally started in California by Joe Gold. Each gym features a wide array of exercise equipment, group exercise classes and personal trainers to assist clients...
and
Muscle BeachMuscle Beach refers to either Muscle Beach Venice, an area in Venice, California, on Ocean Front Walk two blocks north of Venice Boulevard or to Original Muscle Beach, two miles north of Venice, south of the Santa Monica Pier...
, whereas the quiet, reserved Ferrigno - who went partially deaf after a childhood ear infection - trains with his father in a dimly lit, private basement gym. While Ferrigno surrounds himself with his family, Schwarzenegger is accompanied wherever he goes by other bodybuilders, reporters, and beautiful women.
In between interviews and workout demonstrations with Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger explains the basic concepts behind bodybuilding. Although he emphasizes the importance of physique in bodybuilding, Schwarzenegger also stresses the psychological aspects of competition, crediting meticulously crafted strategies of
psychological warfarePsychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
against his opponents for his numerous victories.
The film briefly looks at Schwarzenegger's training partner,
Franco ColumbuFranco Columbu is an Italian actor, former bodybuilder and World's Strongest Man competitor.-Bodybuilding:Columbu was born in Ollolai, Sardinia . Starting out his athletic career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding, winning...
, a favorite to win first in the under-200 pound division at Mr. Olympia. A former boxer from a tiny village in
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, Columbu returns home to celebrate a traditional dinner with his family, who still ascribe to old world values and are skeptical of the overt aggression of boxing and bodybuilding. Nevertheless, Columbu impresses his family with a display of strength by lifting the back end of a car and moving it down a street.
In South Africa, Schwarzenegger wages his psychological warfare on Ferrigno, befriending Ferrigno and then subtly insulting him over breakfast with his family. The strategy appears to work and Ferrigno becomes troubled. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger attends the judging for the under 200 pound class in order to scope out who his competition will be for the overall Mr. Olympia title, jokingly disparaging Columbu. The appearance of
Ed CorneyEd Corney is an American former professional bodybuilder.-Bodybuilding career:Ed Corney is a legendary bodybuilder from the Golden Age of bodybuilding and is widely regarded as the greatest poser that the sport has ever known. He has won the IFBB Mr...
stuns Schwarzenegger, who for the only time in the film praises another bodybuilder, openly admiring Corney's physique and posing prowess. Columbu places first and he moves on to compete against the winner of the over 200 pound category.
Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno, and
Serge NubretSerge Nubret was a French professional bodybuilder, bodybuilding federation leader, movie actor and author. Serge was awarded many bodybuilding titles, including Mr. Europe , Mr. Universe and WBBG Pro. Mr. World...
prepare to go onstage and compete for the over 200 pound category. In the locker room, Schwarzenegger engages in some last-minute intimidation of Ferrigno and succeeds in weakening Ferrigno's confidence. Ferrigno is visibly shaken onstage, and as a result, ends up placing third behind Nubret and Schwarzenegger, who is declared the winner. Schwarzenegger and Columbu engage in a posedown for the title of Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger uses his stage presence and intimidating looks to unnerve Columbu, who falters. Schwarzenegger is declared Mr. Olympia, and in a post-victory speech announces his official retirement from professional bodybuilding. Later, at an after party for the competitors, Schwarzenegger celebrates his victory by smoking marijuana and eating
fried chickenFried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens which have been floured or battered and then pan fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior...
. The competition over, he wishes Ferrigno happy birthday and leads the other competitors in singing "Happy Birthday to You" as a cake is revealed. The film ends with Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno and Ferrigno's parents riding together to the airport.
Production
The film began as a look at bodybuilding from the perspective of a newcomer to the sport; to this end, the production had hired diminutive actor
Bud CortBud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
, with the intention of following Cort's development from an especially thin and physically weak man to a muscular, strong bodybuilder. Cort trained at Gold's Gym for a brief period, taking lessons from Schwarzenegger, but ultimately felt that he was wrong for the project; Cort and the producers amicably parted ways, and the documentary team began to focus more intently on the established bodybuilders at Gold's.
In order to compensate for the loss of Cort's narrative arc, Butler decided to capitalize on Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno's contrasting personalities and cast the film as the story of a heroic but "sinister" underdog (Ferrigno) against a charismatic, powerful "villain" (Schwarzenegger). To this end, Butler intentionally avoided filming Ferrigno's training sequences with bright lighting and emphasized the open-air atmosphere of Gold's Gym and the sunlight at Muscle Beach for Schwarzenegger's training sequences. Schwarzenegger claims to have helped Butler in casting himself as a villain, citing his story about not returning home for his father's funeral as having been told to him by a French bodybuilder; however, following the film's release, claims surfaced that Schwarzenegger had in fact refused to attend the funeral. Butler additionally cast the relationship between Mike Katz and Ken Waller as a sinister rivalry, filming the "football scene" where Waller decides to steal Katz's shirt after the fact in order to fill in a narrative gap. Waller and Katz were in fact close friends, and Waller's theft of the shirt was simply a spur-of-the-moment prank not intended to upset Katz to the extent that it did. Waller was later regretful of the football sequence, claiming that audiences at bodybuilding competitions continued to boo him for years after the film's release.
Following the Mr. Olympia contest, the production ran out of money and ended up in
development hellIn the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
for nearly two years. In an effort to raise funds, Butler arranged an exhibit with the
Whitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
: Bodybuilders would become "living sculptures," posing on rotating platforms while art critics analyzed the aesthetics of the bodybuilding physique and compared and contrasted the men to Greek sculpture. To increase interest in the event, Butler arranged for
Candice BergenCandice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
to be a celebrity commentator; Schwarzenegger also agreed to appear as one of the "living sculptures," having received modest attention for his Golden Globe-winning appearance in the film
Stay HungryStay Hungry is the third album by American heavy metal band Twisted Sister. Released on May 10, 1984, the album features the band's two biggest hits, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" and the power ballad "The Price." According to RIAA certification, Stay Hungry gained Multi-Platinum...
. The event proved to be a great success, generating more money than Butler had anticipated and allowing him to complete production on the film.
Upon its release, Pumping Iron became a commercial and critical success. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity grew beyond that afforded him by "Stay Hungry;" Ferrigno was shortly thereafter cast as The Incredible Hulk, a role he would continue to play in a variety of mediums into the 2010s. Although bodybuilding had been, prior to the film's release, a
subcultureIn sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
regarded by many as being on par with early 20th century
freak showA freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
s, the film normalized the idea to the point that interest in bodybuilding began spreading into mainstream American culture. In the years following the film's release, hundreds of commercial gyms began appearing across the United States as demand rose for access to weightlifting materials.
Eight years after the film's release, Butler filmed a sequel,
Pumping Iron II: The Women, documenting the world of female bodybuilding. The film was a commercial failure, grossing only $628,000 in the United States. It received limited VHS and DVD releases in the late 90s and early 2000s before going out of print and now retails for hundreds of dollars used.
Raw Iron
For the film's 25th anniversary, filmmakers David and Scott McVeigh tracked down the participants in
Pumping Iron to follow up on their lives and see how the film's success had affected them personally and professionally. The resultant film,
Raw Iron, also served to document the making of Pumping Iron, exploring the difficulties that Butler had in producing the film and the narrative choices he made. The film originally aired on Starz, and was later featured as an extra on the DVD of
Pumping Iron.
Reception
The film received highly positive reviews with the review tallying website
rotten tomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reporting that 22 out the 23 reviews they tallied for the film were positive for a score of 96% and a certification of "fresh". The website summarized the critics consensus by saying that "In addition to offering an enlightening early look into the world of future star/politician Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Pumping Iron provides a witty and insightful overview of competitive bodybuilding."
External links