Bardlerx
Strictly average movie
SpunkySelfTwitter
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Kinley
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
BA_Harrison
Before he was the world's greatest action movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the world's greatest bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Olympia contest seven times. Documentary Pumping Iron follows Arnold and his musclebound rivals as they prepare for Mr. Olympia 1975.You don't have to be a roid junkie yourself, or even an Arnie fan, to enjoy this insightful documentary. The colourful characters it portrays and the unique world which they inhabit is so engrossing that even those who regularly get sand kicked in their face should have lots of fun with it. Arnold is obviously the big draw here, and he's as charismatic, amusing, arrogant and as driven as one might expect, but the other bodybuilders prove just as fascinating: Lou 'The Incredible Hulk' Ferrigno, who aims to be even greater than his idol Arnie; amateur Mike Katz, driven to seek physical perfection after being bullied as a child; Sicilian Franco Columbu, who makes up for his lack of stature by being able to blow up hot water bottles with his breath!As strange as their obsession might seem to many of us, it's hard not to admire these men for the passion, dedication and sheer hard work they display in their pursuit of their dream: the perfectly proportioned body.
Geeky Randy
Nicely filmed docudrama about the sport of bodybuilding. Ken Waller, Ed Corny, Mike Katz and Franco Columbu all make appearances, with the latter two having their own brief segments, but the film's main focus is on five-time champion Arnold Schwarzenegger defending his Mr. Olympia title against Lou Ferrigno and Serge Nubret. Partly scripted, with some stories being a bit embellished or possibly completely made up. Completion stalled for a couple of years due to budgetary problems, but Schwarzenegger and other bodybuilders helped raise funds to continue filming. Yes, this is the movie where Arnold compares working out to sex—and it's a humorously ridiculous analogy even in the context of this film.*** (out of four)
runamokprods
Entertaining, well made documentary on the sport of body building (circa mid 1970s) focusing in particular on then 28 year old Arnold Schwarzenegger, who can be charming, funny, and as when he's explaining his admiration for dictators in his Germanic accent ("People remember them") or playing psych-out mind games on his so-called best friend, but also rival, before a competition – he can be more than a bit creepy and disturbing. While always enjoyable, and fascinating for where Arnold's life led him after this film made him a star, it's not a super deep or moving documentary. Its too lightweight,repetitive and self- consciously funky for that, along with the fact that sections are admittedly semi-staged for the cameras. But if it's not quite a great film, its certainly a good time.
Lee Eisenberg
Before Arnold Schwarzenegger became a parody of himself, he starred in this insightful documentary about bodybuilding. "Pumping Iron" features a number of men whose muscles are beyond belief. Seriously, these men look bizarre. It seems as though it would be hard on one's heart to carry that extra weight. A scene that makes you think "uh oh" is when they attend the Mr. Olympia contest in Pretoria, South Africa. No one mentions apartheid.Anyway, it's a very fun documentary, even though a lot of the material seems really corny. Lou Ferrigno is best known as the Hulk, while I recognized Franco Columbu from some photos that Annie Leibovitz took of him and Schwarzenegger in South Africa.