Pumping Iron

Pros: Entertaining look at the obscure sport of bodybuilding, with major help from some Arnold guy...

Cons: To create drama, stories and events are sensationalized, even made up (No way!)

The Bottom Line: He won over judges and audiences to become a multiple time Mr. Olympia and an eventual box-office star (His success with the voters of California is a different story…)

Review: Pumping Iron begins with an extended montage showing various reputable bodybuilders of the 1970’s. They pose, showing off their impressively built bodies in various forms and colors under beaming stage lights. The crowds they perform for, in ...

Pros: The best bodybuilding ever caught on film, as well as the best bodies

Cons: a bit outdated

The Bottom Line: Pumping Iron is the greatest piece of film footage ever on bodybuilding. It will stand the test of time and be enjoyed by generations to come.

Review: Pumping Iron is to the bodybuilding world what Enter the Dragon is for the martial arts world. That is how good this movie is. Made in 1977, Pumping Iron is basically just a documentary of several men who are vying for a bodybuilding championship. Not ...

Pros: it's Arnold at his finest

Cons: ...

Review: This movie has it all. A true cult classic and must have for bodybuilders and Arnold Fans alike.

I think it's a classic, not because you get to see some of the finest bodybuilders ever train, but because this movie comes equipped with...

Pros: That Arnold guy is going to be a big star someday.

Cons: It's all a sham (a delightful sham, but a sham nonetheless).

The Bottom Line: Things to do today: work out delts, abs, charisma

Review: Each year, thousands of people travel to Florence to view Michelangelo's statue of David. Said to be one of the grandest examples of the divine nature in the human form, David is depicted with a slingshot over one shoulder and a determined look in his ...

Pros: Insight to Arnold before he was a superstar.

Cons: Ken Waller

The Bottom Line: Insight to an icon!

Review: INTRO

Arnold Schwarzenegger. A worldwide icon. Probably the greatest pure action star of all time, and also the greatest bodybuilder of all time. Pumping Iron is a documentary chronicling the buildup to the ’75...

Pros: Arnold Schwarzenegger is great

Cons: Some staged things, no steroid talk

The Bottom Line: Get your pump on.

Review: In 1977, Robert Fiore and George Butler put out a film about body building called Pumping Iron, which put a well known body builder, Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the map. The movie was originally intended to be a documentary about the sport of body ...

Pros: Insightful documentary

Cons: dated

Review: The documentary that introduced the world to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although not his first film, that honor goes to the dreadful Hercules in New York, it nevertheless made Arnold a household name. The movie also was Lou Ferrigno’s first time in front of...

Pros: Real-life setting, personality profiles, narration.

Cons: Built up drama didn't turn out too well.

Review: OK, I am a huge Arnold fan, but after this movie, I am more of a Lou Ferigno fan. This movie was definitely a budget movie, but I still like it. Being a documentary, it has more of a daily life setting as opposed to the dramatic effects the producers ...