I watched this film a number of times when it first came out, and not again for forty years until catching it last night. What a blast down memory lane. I was a follower of bodybuilding back in the Seventies so the names were all familiar to me when the documentary was released. It was fun seeing muscle men like Mike Katz, Ken Waller, Franco Columbu, Serge Nubret and Lou Ferrigno in the story, but the center stage guy was Austrian strong man Arnold Schwarzenegger. I still remembered his put downs to Ferrigno and his father, meant to both demoralize and psych out his main opponent for the upcoming (1975) Mr. Olympia contest. It's comical to watch, but as part of Ah-nold's strategy, it worked to have it's effect on the second place finisher.
One thing I noticed today that didn't get my attention back in the day, was how the crowds at the bodybuilding shows mixed out pretty closely to fifty-fifty, men and women. You wouldn't think so, figuring most followers of the sport would be similar minded muscle heads (like myself), mostly men. I haven't followed the sport for almost as many years now as this film exists, but to my mind, there was one bodybuilder who might have been slightly better than Arnie in one of the early Olympia contests. That being Sergio Oliva, but he wasn't in this film.
I happened to catch Lou Ferrigno at a Chicago Comic-Con quite a few years ago, well after his heyday as a bodybuilder and star of the late Seventies/early Eighties TV series, "The Incredible Hulk". 'Louie' was signing autographs and trading stories with fans, still in great shape, and to my mind, with a build that looked a lot like the character he portrayed. It's good to see both Arnold and Lou still going strong today.
One thing I noticed today that didn't get my attention back in the day, was how the crowds at the bodybuilding shows mixed out pretty closely to fifty-fifty, men and women. You wouldn't think so, figuring most followers of the sport would be similar minded muscle heads (like myself), mostly men. I haven't followed the sport for almost as many years now as this film exists, but to my mind, there was one bodybuilder who might have been slightly better than Arnie in one of the early Olympia contests. That being Sergio Oliva, but he wasn't in this film.
I happened to catch Lou Ferrigno at a Chicago Comic-Con quite a few years ago, well after his heyday as a bodybuilder and star of the late Seventies/early Eighties TV series, "The Incredible Hulk". 'Louie' was signing autographs and trading stories with fans, still in great shape, and to my mind, with a build that looked a lot like the character he portrayed. It's good to see both Arnold and Lou still going strong today.