Pumping Iron

Pumping Iron (1977) is a documentary film, about the run-up to the 1975 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. The film focuses on Arnold Schwarzenegger and his competitors Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu. The documentary was co-directed by Robert Fiore and George Butler. It was based on a book written by Charles Gaines.

Follow Ons

Pumping Iron was the world's first introduction to Arnold Schwarzenegger and was a contributing factor to Arnold's acting career and also in popularizing bodybuilding. Franco Columbu would go on to win the Olympia in 1976 and eventually became a practising doctor. Lou Ferrigno also went on to much success: though he never won the Olympia title, he found success in television, starring as the title character in the TV series The Incredible Hulk.

Related Topics:
1976 - The Incredible Hulk

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A sequel to the film was made some years later, entitled '. As the name suggests, it focused on female bodybuilders.

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A 25th anniversary edition of Pumping Iron included some comments from Arnold and George Butler, admitting that parts of the movie were staged or faked to make the film more interesting. At first Butler had tried to make a simple documentary highlighting the human side of bodybuilders, but somehow it didn't quite "work"; so he chose instead to take a good guy/bad guy approach. Arnold and Ken Waller were the chosen bad guys. At one point in the movie Arnold mentions that he refused to attend his father's funeral in Austria because he was training for a contest; in the commentary he denies this ever happened. Ken Waller's deviousness toward Mike Katz in the movie was also faked or exaggerated, but it did earn him some real-life boos at later contests.

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