IGX

Have any of you even heard of this movie? It's way off the radar. I'm a fan of Five Easy Pieces, so I went through Rafelson's movies on netflix and queued it up a while ago. It's not a great film by any stretch but I really enjoyed watching it. Back before Jaws and Star Wars movies weren't expected to make $100 million in a weekend. (Ah, the good old days.)

I just mention it here because it stars Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his first films. The plot revolves around a gym trying to resist a shady buyout. There is also a bit of a sub-plot involving class warfare and the nouveau riche.

In addition to Sally Field's ass, Arnold playing the fiddle, and a great fight in the gym, the film has an insane cast including...
RG Armstrong
Scatman Crothers
Ed Begley Jr
Joe Spinell
Robert Englund
Joanna Cassidy

Get some!

Quirky is the keyword here--but quirky in a highly entertaining way. Directed by Bob Rafelson, this film stars Jeff Bridges as a not-so-good ol' boy. Wealthy and aimless, he is involved in a real estate deal with a group of high-powered partners--and his only responsibility in the whole shebang is to evict the tenants of one building that needs to be torn down and has a gym filled with body builders. Disconnected from everything in his life, he feels a bond to these outsiders, particularly the surprisingly articulate, fiddle-playing Arnold Schwarzenegger (in one of his first film roles). He also finds himself attracted to the blue-collar gym employee played by Sally Field and so becomes an impediment to his own business partners. Oddly funny and affecting, a sleeper that never had much of a release. --Marshall Fine

Yes, a very little-known and totally screwed up movie. "Whacky" would be putting it mildly.

Yeah, I've seen it...a bit different...not one of my favs.

That scene with RG Armstrong going apeshit in the gym, and throwing dumbbells is off the hook.

No doubt about it, Sally Field was a motherfucking brick shithouse back in the day. I'd strangle five nigger babies for some of that ass.

Didn't the director ask Arnold to lose some weight for his role? Cause he was dwarfing little Gidget? Hence his "I come to make ze muscles" line in Pumping Iron? Had to gain it back for 75 Mr O. Which he quickly did.

Kazuya Mishima wrote:Yeah, I've seen it...a bit different...not one of my favs.

That scene with RG Armstrong going apeshit in the gym, and throwing dumbbells is off the hook.

See, I knew Armstrong as the evil "Uncle Lewis" on the "Friday the 13th" TV series, so watching that scene and his uh... scene with Fields was really bizarre.

Yogalete wrote:Didn't the director ask Arnold to lose some weight for his role? Cause he was dwarfing little Gidget? Hence his "I come to make ze muscles" line in Pumping Iron? Had to gain it back for 75 Mr O. Which he quickly did.

Yes, Arnold says this in 'Education of a BB'...he had to get down to around 220 or 225, which equated to a 25 or 30 lbs weight loss...can't remember exactly.

But, I think Arnold has a quaint and likeable habit of stretching the truth (to suit his needs).

Rafelson said on the commentary that when they were filming this Arnold told him he would be governor of California one day. Don't know if that's true or not.

For the record, RG is still going strong at 93 years old.

Kazuya Mishima wrote:No doubt about it, Sally Field was a motherfucking brick shithouse back in the day.

Hmmmm...not bad, but I remember her looking a little curvier than that. Those tight assed jeans they wore back in the day were deceptive.