‘Pumping Iron’ is a really good movie

A few episodes back a guest on Popcorn Mafia did a pitch-perfect version of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s now-famous quote that lifting weights ‘gives me ze feeling of coming,’ and I decided the time had come for me to track down a copy of ‘Pumping Iron.’ And boy am I glad I did.

As mentioned elsewhere, I’ve been powerlifting for the past two years. Not particularly seriously, mind, but enough to develop a slight familiarity with the world of bodybuilding (i.e. I’ve learned that people really and truly, in all seriousness, use steroids), but ‘Pumping Iron’ really is more than just a bodybuilding film. It is gloriously of its time, from the soundtrack (the title song makes my heart sing with gladness), to the fashion (see also: Yellow Overalls Man, included in the video above), to the few glimpses of bodybuilding’s carnival sideshow heritage. But, most of all, it reminds us that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a cheerfully self-absorbed diva. He gleefully torments poor, sweet, hard of hearing Lou Ferrigno, coached by his overbearing dad and rather overwhelmed by all that is going around him. I fell in love with baby Schwarzenegger, and you will, too.