Pumping Iron

The above poster for 1977's PUMPING IRON is truthful: "heart, soul, blood, guts, perspiration and plenty of muscle" are on indeed on view.  But what isn't advertised are the sometimes more sinister elements of the competitive spirit of those in professional bodybuilding.  No different than in any other sport, or in the business world (certainly intertwined).  One contestant named Ken Waller jokes with his friends of how he plans to play psychological games with his main competitor, a decent seeming, family guy named Mike Katz.  Pranks to throw him off right before a competition by stealing one of his valued T-shirts.  Waller comes off like a bona-fide prick as he and his buds toss around a football and laugh. Then we see Katz as he learns Waller has beaten him in the IFBB Universe contest; the man is a good sport, and wants to go congratulate his "friend."

Did directors George Butler and Robert Fiore purposely milk the contrast between the men? Of course.  "Documentaries" are subjective and contrived, too.  I've read that Waller and Katz are in fact good friends, and that Waller regrets acting like a douche on film.  I imagine this would at least in part be due to the sour reception he received at later contests after this movie was released.

And how about the main star, Mr. Universe himself, "the one and only" Arnold Schwarzenegger?  There are interviews with the future movie star and California governor that reveal his own sneaky methods to undermine his opponent's confidence.  He even recounts the time he got someone disqualified by giving him bogus advice as to how to act on stage during a competition.  Arnie calls one rival "a child. So it's not that hard for me to give min the wrong advices."

Now, before you go accusing me of being overly sensitive, an advocate of giving a trophy to everyone who participates, hear me out.  I understand that the psyche game is omnipresent in athletics.  Baseball pitchers play such games with the batter, for one.  Everyone trash talks each other.  But I have always found some of these tenets of competition to be corrosive, fostering a zero sum mentality that may spill over into "real life."  Or a general deception of true character. We see Arnold being friendly with his main competitor, Lou Ferrigno (later of The Incredible Hulk) and his family, but is it genuine? Just faux ingratiation? Another game?

Arnold and Ken beat their more reserved, down to earth also rans.  Ferrigno is depicted as shy and put upon by his father. Arnold is a brash, big talking egotist who gives speeches on why he truly believes he is a living sculpture. How the feeling of blood rushing into his muscles ("the pump") is similar to having an orgasm.   PUMPING IRON more than suggests such an attitude is what it takes to win, to be #1.  Ferrigno is hungry, all right, but maybe not cutthtroat enough.  He seems to be physically able, though the filmmakers show him struggling more during his grueling workout routines than Schwarzenegger.

The film is fascinating.  We marvel at and/or may be repulsed by all these men and their somewhat freakish bodies.  Deltoids the size of kickballs and backs that are a series of bulging ripples.   You may not aspire to such a look, but you may well be inspired to go (or get back) to the gym.