Pumping Iron
Directed by	Robert Fiore George Butler
Produced by	George Butler Jerome Gary
Written by	George Butler Charles Gaines
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Lou Ferrigno Franco Columbu
Distributed by	Cinegate Almi Cinema 5
Release date(s)	1977
Running time	83 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Pumping Iron is a 1977 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 the book of the same name by Charles Gaines and George Butler (Simon and Schuster, 1974). Beavis and Butt-head was an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. ... Pumping Iron is an episode of the animated TV series Beavis and Butt-Head. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (505x755, 51 KB) movie poster for the American theatrical release of the film Pumping Iron (1977) Source URL: http://www. ... George Butler (born 1943) is a British-born photographer and documentary filmmaker. ... George Butler (born 1943) is a British-born photographer and documentary filmmaker. ... George Butler (born 1943) is a British-born photographer and documentary filmmaker. ... Charles Gaines was born January 6, 1942, in Florida, the son of Charles Latham and Margaret (Shook) Gaines. ... Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): ) (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the U.S. state of California. ... Lou Ferrigno at Comicon 2007 Louis Jude Ferrigno (born November 9, 1951[1]) is an American bodybuilder and actor. ... Franco Columbu (August 7, 1941, Ollolai, Sardinia) is an Italian actor and bodybuilder. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // Events In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mr. ... Professional Bodybuilder Gustavo Badell posing Bodybuilding is the process of maximizing muscle hypertrophy through the combination of weight training, sufficient caloric intake, and rest. ... Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): ) (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the U.S. state of California. ... Lou Ferrigno at Comicon 2007 Louis Jude Ferrigno (born November 9, 1951[1]) is an American bodybuilder and actor. ... Franco Columbu (August 7, 1941, Ollolai, Sardinia) is an Italian actor and bodybuilder. ... George Butler (born 1943) is a British-born photographer and documentary filmmaker. ... Charles Gaines was born January 6, 1942, in Florida, the son of Charles Latham and Margaret (Shook) Gaines. ... George Butler (born 1943) is a British-born photographer and documentary filmmaker. ...

Pumping Iron is considered to be the all-time classic bodybuilding movie, documenting what is commonly referred to as "The Golden Age" of bodybuilding, a time when mass and size mattered less, and symmetry and definition of the body ruled. The documentary follows the two main bodybuilding competitions, the IFBB Mr. Universe (for amateurs) and the Mr. Olympia (for professionals) in Pretoria, South Africa. Though the documentary focuses on Schwarzenegger, many notable bodybuilders make appearances, including Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbu, Mike Mentzer, Robby Robinson, Mike Katz, Albert Beckles, Ken Waller, Frank Zane, Paul Grant, Ed Corney, Serge Nubret and Danny Padilla — all talented champions in their own rights. Ed Corney appeared on the front dust jacket of the hardcover edition of the book and the front of the softcover version, as well as on the poster for the movie. The World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships (formerly IFBB Mr. ... Look up amateur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mr. ... Motto: Praestantia Praevaleat Pretoria (May Pretoria Be Pre-eminent In Excellence) Country South Africa Province Gauteng Established 1855 Area  - City 1,644 km²  (634. ... Lou Ferrigno at Comicon 2007 Louis Jude Ferrigno (born November 9, 1951[1]) is an American bodybuilder and actor. ... Franco Columbu (August 7, 1941, Ollolai, Sardinia) is an Italian actor and bodybuilder. ... Mike Mentzer (b. ... Robby Robinson (born May 24, 1946) is an American former bodybuilder who won the Mr. ... Michael Katz (born November 14, 1944) is a former American IFBB professional bodybuilder most famous for his appearance with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1977 bodybuilding documentary film Pumping Iron. ... Albert Beckles. ... Ken Waller is an American former bodybuilder featured in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. ... Frank Zane on the cover of Mind, Body, Spirit Frank Zane (born June 28, 1942 in Kingston, Pennsylvania) is an American former professional bodybuilder and teacher. ... Bodybuilder Paul Grant was born as a twin in Wales in 1943. ... Ed Corney is widely regarded as the greatest poser that the sport of bodybuilding has ever known. ... Serge Nubret (born October 6, 1938) is a professional French bodybuilder. ... Dennis Danny Padilla (born April 3, 1951) is an American bodybuilder nicknamed The Giant Killer because of his short stature and amazing abilitly to defeat much taller competitors. ...

The film was re-released on DVD in 2003 for the 25th Anniversary of the original. The DVD featured behind the scenes footage and recent interviews with the cast. Size comparison: A 12 cm Sony DVD+RW and a 19 cm Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Overview

The original video tape cover from the 1977 release of Pumping Iron

In addition to popularizing bodybuilding, Pumping Iron was the world's introduction to Arnold Schwarzenegger and was a contributing factor to his acting career. Franco Columbu would go on to win the Olympia in 1976 and 1981, and eventually became a practicing chiropractor, and actor. Lou Ferrigno also went on to much success: though he never won the Olympia title, he succeeded in television and movies, starring as the title character in the TV series The Incredible Hulk. Image File history File links Pumpingiron1977. ... Image File history File links Pumpingiron1977. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Chiropractic treatment uses manipulative therapy to correct subluxation, which has been shown to have some efficacy in treating back and neck pain, headache, and other symptoms of spinal-related conditions. ... This article is about the live action series. ...

A sequel, Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985), focused on female bodybuilding. // Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson Rambo: First Blood Part II, starring Sylvester Stallone Rocky IV, starring Sylvester Stallone The Color Purple, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chong, Adolph Caesar Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and... Lenda Murray, 8 times Ms. ...

A 25th anniversary edition of Pumping Iron included comments from Arnold and George Butler, admitting that parts of the movie were staged 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". 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.

Plot

25th Anniversary DVD cover

The first part of the documentary features the Mr. Universe contenders and begins with a profile of Mike Katz who is intending to win the Mr. Universe. Competing against Katz is Ken Waller. The two are stark contrasts of each other: where Katz is humble and unassuming, Waller is arrogant and dirty (he deliberately hides Katz's belongings at the Mr. Universe to break his focus before going on stage). After a pose-down Waller, due to his superior definition and proportions, eventually wins the Mr. Universe with Katz coming a distant 4th place. It should be noted that Katz is considered by some to have the greatest chest of all time, measuring at one point a huge 60 inches (152 cm), a feat only equaled by Lou Ferrigno. Image File history File linksMetadata Pumping_Iron_Cover. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Pumping_Iron_Cover. ...

The second part of the film follows the Olympia contenders, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu. His father in a small downtown gym trains Ferrigno, a steel worker. Ferrigno is humble and trains hard, whereas Arnold trains in the luxurious Gold's Gym, flanked by women as he performs his calf raises. Franco and Arnold both train together in the gym outside, where spectators are able to watch, contrasting the conditions Ferrigno is training under. It was, in fact, Ed Corney who was Arnold's training partner for the preparation for the 1975 Olympia. The explanation is not mysterious. Columbu was often busy with his chiropractic education and his training schedule was difficult to coordinate with Arnold's. The film makers shot as much "coverage" footage of Corney as they did of Columbu, based on their belief that there was a good possibility of his taking the under 200 pound title in South Africa. However, when Corney took second place in Pretoria, the film was necessarily edited to put more dramatic focus on Columbu. Franco Columbu is also documented in a memorable scene when he blows air into a hot water bottle until it explodes. Golds Gym International, Inc. ...

Prior to the Olympia competition the documentary also reveals Schwarzenegger's lesser-known deceptive behavior and practices when it comes to his fellow competitors. Arnold comments that if his competitors are indeed better than him that he will get a room with them the night prior to the competition and simply talk them into losing.

The documentary then takes off to Pretoria, South Africa, to the build-up to the competition. The competitors all take part in the Pre-Judging rounds. The under 200 pounds (91 kg) class is judged first, and Franco Columbu is declared the winner. The next to be judged are the three finalists from the over 200 pounds (91 kg) class, Lou Ferrigno, Arnold, and Serge Nubret. Arnold is declared the winner and must go for a pose-down with Franco Columbu for the overall Olympia title. Arnold for the 6th time is crowned Mr. Olympia; after his win he announces his retirement from competition. He is shown celebrating his victory by smoking a joint and eating fried chicken & birthday cake. The documentary ends with all who took part leaving for the airport on a bus.

Interesting quotes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Pumping Iron

Lou Ferrigno is performing a heavy military press and is clearly overloaded: Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ...

Ferrigno: "Arnold! Arnold! Arnold! Arnold! Arnold!"

Arnold walks up to the counter of Gold's Gym:

Arnold "Can I sign up? I want to start gaining some muscles."

Franco Columbu, talking about his transition from Italy to America:

Columbu "...somebody says 'Go to Hell' when they get upset, there they say 'Go to California!"

Ferrigno and his trainer father have just finished an intense session:

Ferrigno's Father: "Remember if you're trainin' hard, he may be trainin' ... twice as hard"

Arnold comparing the "pump" of lifting to sex:

Arnold "The greatest feeling you can get in a gym or the most satisfying feeling you can get in the gym is the pump. Let's say you train your biceps, blood is rushing in to your muscles and that's what we call the pump. Your muscles get a really tight feeling like your skin is going to explode any minute and its really tight and its like someone is blowing air into your muscle and it just blows up and it feels different, it feels fantastic. It's as satifying to me as cumming is, you know, as in having sex with a woman and cumming. So can you believe how much I am in heaven? I am like getting the feeling of cumming in the gym, I'm getting the feeling of cumming at home, I'm getting the feeling of cumming backstage, when I pump up, when I pose out in front of 5000 people I get the same feeling, so I am cumming day and night. Its terrific, right? So I am in heaven."

Everybody asks Lou for a speech after singing for his birthday:

Ferrigno: "I have nothing to say, I just wanna eat my cake"

External links

• Hause, Irene L. (1977, May). Pumping Iron (film review). Muscle Digest. 1(7), pp. 40-42. Retrieved October 13, 2007.
• Pumping Iron at the Internet Movie Database
• Pumping Iron Gallery, 500 photos