You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the man who would become governor of California talk about “the pump.” In the now legendary 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, a 28-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger describes the feeling in memorable terms. Put more bluntly, the Terminator likens lifting weights to having an orgasm.
Plenty of people have heard of Pumping Iron. A lot of them have probably even seen that infamous clip! But the documentary is about much more than Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about coming. It’s a uniquely intimate peek into a subculture that most of us are probably (and understandably) intimidated by. Body buildingis seen as an art form by some, one that’s certainly taken a turn for the steroids in recent years. So—one hopes—this is a particularly pure peek into that world.
Regardless of whether you’re interested in bodybuilding, though, Pumping Iron is just exquisite filmmaking full of unforgettable characters. And having the ever-quotable Arnie as the star, of course, is awesome. It’s easy to forget what this incredible athlete looked like in his prime. And that Arnie—the Arnie before California, before Kindergarten Cop, before The Terminator—was a hell of an athlete. [Netflix, YouTube]
