I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This would be a slightly dull documentary about muscular men, save for one thing: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Every line of his interviews in this film is amazing. It's worth watching just to listen to him babble and accidentally spout dozens of comedic gems!

From Gold's Gym in Venice Beach California to the showdown in Pretoria, amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests in this part-scripted, part- documentary film. Pumping Iron was such a great Documentary i mean the way it portrays the lives of all this guys is amazing and even sad sometimes especially Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger basically plays himself this big muscular guy who is pretty much a goofball in real life and he makes sure he has fun every day of his life which he did the man is 69 years old today and he still stars in Terminator Movies and attends The Arnold Classic every year and he brings more new stories to tell to the younger audience but also those who lived and spend their lives watching him competing in Bodybuilding or just watched all of his movies. Franco Columbu also has a great story to tell and Mike Katz with his 2 little children and pretty much everyone. This isn't a movie about big guys holding weapons it's based on actual events and it rocks as both a movie and a documentary 2 Thumbs Up 10/10.

It reminds me of some of those sombre Canadian films that were popular back in the 1980s. I remember I watched this as a kid. I am thankful for that. This is a great film with a tone reminiscent of other great docs. The film builds up suspense in the beginning and then takes off. The cinematography is stark and bare. In the bundle of all that it lacks, I feel that the movie is ignored for its creativity. Quality work that draws you in and doesn't let you go. I suggest this movie to everyone. This is actually a serious movie with a serious message. It is a powerful film. Final rating from me: seven out of ten, almost eight out of ten.

Every now and then a film comes along that changes cinema or an aspect of it. In the way Enter the Dragon changed films, in that almost all film fight scenes now have martial arts in them. Pumping Iron changed the attitude of many towards muscles and muscle men. It is true to say that before Schwarzenegger came along, men with muscles in film were often portrayed as stupid or slow. Arnold showed in this film that he had tons of personality, his charisma was as big as his chest and he made Bodybuilding seem cool. Look at films made since Pumping Iron, the lead actor often has to have muscle. Stallone, Van damn etc all owe a lot to Schwarzenegger for their success. Pumping Iron itself is an interesting exploration into the strange world of competitive bodybuilding and it successfully shows the variety of characters that exist within the 'sport'. Since it was made bodybuilders are even bigger and certainly more muscular today than they were in Arnolds day. Truth is his build would not win today but at the time he was the best their was. There were more muscular men ( Franco is much more muscular )but he had the ability to show his body to the best advantage, hiding weaknesses and pushing his strong parts to the fore. Certain sides of bodybuilding are omitted ( drug taking, homosexuality ) but the film itself is very entertaining and crams a lot into a relatively short film.I recommend the DVD edition that others have mentioned as you get a lot more from it.