Pumping Iron

Ordered for my daughter and she loves it

Bodybuilding is the discrete subject, but this is a work in championship attitude and gamesmanship. There are so many classic scenes. Arnold talking about getting through pain. Arnold discussing mind-games with the famous, "I will mess him up, he will be ready to lose." "Franco is a child, I am his father." "When the lion wants to eat, the food is there." Listing to Arnold convert pleasure to pain, "I am c...g all the time" versus Lou's inability to do that with "no more." Arnold dividing and conquering, telling Lou's father not to "mess up" Lou. Bodybuilding is interesting, but, in the larger sense, the bodybuilding is incidental. The more you study a champion and the "game" the more you will get out of this video. It's interesting entertainment, but that's not the real value. Like other great people, perhaps you like them, perhaps you don't, but champions have something to teach us, because they obtained their personal objective.

It is, as Arnold would typically say, simply terrific to finally discover the movie re-released as a DVD. Curiously enough, as someone who is featured as a member of the audience at Mountain Park when the sequences featuring Arnold guest-posing there were shot, I suppose I was a bit player in this movie. As it turned out, I was invited by Ed Jubinville, who ran the event, and got the chance to meet Arnold after the show. Yet my fondness for this expansive and revealing look into the intense subculture of bodybuilding is based more on the way it opened up the world of physical fitness and bodybuilding, which up to that point had been the subject of crude jokes and ridicule.This in many ways is a documentary, and photographer and videographer George Butler and author Charles Gaines (who wrote the original best-selling book, "Pumping Iron") took quite a risk in pushing this cultish film into the mainstream. Indeed, it originally played in arthouses and didn't become a hit until later. Yet it provided the spring for success Arnold needed to prove he could both emote and act (not many people understood the film was in fact scripted, such that many of the so-called stories and events were derived from the experiences of others,written into the film to provide a plot that otherwise didn't exist. thus events such as Schwarzenegger's father's death just before the Olympia (never happened that way), or Ken Waller plotting to undo Mike Katz.Likewise, the whole Mike Katz teeshirt routine. Still, at base this remains a fascinating look into the otherwise mysterious world of competitive bodybuilding, although the story described herein depicts a world that no longer exists as it did twenty five years ago. Nowadays bodybuilding is a big-money enterprise, and it has changed in the process of so evolving. People are in it for the money and the fame, and drugs play a much bigger part in the calculation than they did then. In that sense at least, it has lost its innocence. Still, for anyone so inclined, this is a memorable and intriguing story, featuring a numbner of world class strength athletes such as Schwarzenegger, Louis Ferrigno, Franco Columbo, Dave Draper, Serge Nubret, and Mike Katz, all then in their prime. This is a terrific movie, and one that I am sure you will enjoy

I've been a big fan of this movie for years and years. I turned my teenage son on to it also and he just watches it in amazement! This film captures an era that will never come again, back when Bodybuilding was in it's infancy. It shows the comradarie as well as the competition. It also features (in my opinion)some of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, back when they were huge but looked human compared to the bodybuilders of today who seem to value mass above all else. Sure there were drugs back then, no doubt these guys of the "Pumping Iron" era were not all natural, but they didn't become the caricatures that so many bodybuilders look like now. They looked enhanced by the drugs but not overwhelmed by them. Also, these guys were really groundbreakers, names like Arnold, Zane, Robinson, Katz, Waller, Nubret, Columbu, Corney and of course Ferrigno to name the most obvious ones. Not only was the original film outstanding and worth purchasing in and of itself on DVD, but the extra features on this 25th anniversary special are incredible! The special feature on the making of "Pumping Iron" is as enjoyable to me as the actual film itself. It's great to be able to see these bodybuilders as they are these days and to hear their feeling on the glory days of bodybuiling and the friendships they all have that still endure to this day. All the outakes (they had over a hundred hours of film originally) were so cool to see and I hope that someday they release even more of those outtakes. I for one would buy them, even as a rough cut, in a heartbeat because those days will never come again. Perhaps I'm being nostalgic, but there was something magical about the Pumping Iron era and this DVD really captures the essence of it. Thanks to Butler and Gaines for having the vision to not only make the film but for all the folks who re-released it with all the extra footage.

For Arnold fans, this is a must have.

This, my friends, is the DVD release of the seminal 'Pumping Iron'; a glimpse into the world of bodybuilding and weightlifting. On the eve of the '75 Mr Olympia, champion Arnold Schwarzenegger and rookie Lou Ferrigno (pre 'The Hulk' tv series) battle for the crown.....You'll see the highs, the lows, the drama, the laughter....everything in 83 minutes of this independent release.Being a DVD, of course, there's some extras and interviews with Arnold amongst others.A fun film and a reminder of my teen years.....

41 years ago and a documentary looking into the intense world of bodybuilding as the lads work on being mr olmpia 1975, its a world of dedication, sacrifice and arrogance and intensity and its a great insight, arnie was going for his 7th title i think and he was as arrogant and brash as you like, its hard to like him at times while at other times you know its the mindset of a winner and thats what he is. Its mindgames like we see in football and all competition really, really interesting indeed

- This is a documentary into the life of bodybuilder and how hard the train, their lifestyle, competitions.- Bodybuilding has change a lot since the times of Arnold – they did it for the love of the sport, now a days it about the money, movies, you tubing – no one bodybuilder really stands out today – they are all the same.- You will understand why Arnold is so respected in this sport, is positive attitude, his motivation.

This is a really enjoyable documentary film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He absolutely oozes star quality in this film and it is obvious he would go on to be a superstar. The movie itself is a really interesting insight into the world of body building, even if it's not a sport that would normally captivate you. Very well made and well worth a watch

This film speaks for itself. Some of the greatest bodybuilders sharing their journey to winning one of the greatest competitions of all times. These were real bodybuilders and not those like today science projects.