Stay Hungry (1976)

Craig Blake (Jeff Bridges) is trying to help buy up a whole chunk of the city for a consortium to rebuilt. Gym owner Thor is holding out. Blake gets to know the disparate cast of characters who call the gym their second home. Only he starts to become their friend and falls for Mary (Sally Field) who's working there.This is a weird little movie. Sally Field is trying to shed her good girl persona and goes out in the buff. Robert Englund is pre-Kreuger. Arnold Schwarzenegger is making a big move acting as a bodybuilder competing in Mr Universe, and playing the fiddle with rednecks. He's a brainy philosophers who gets the title line. And they got Jeff Bridges holding it all together. To top off the weirdness, some 30 bodybuilders have an impromptu pose off in the streets.I like all these characters, but there isn't much of a story. It's obvious that Blake has befriend these guys quite early on. There doesn't seem to be much of a struggle. The land developer should be doing much more to drive these guys out. There needs to be more tension. The plot needs to flow better, and there is a little too much meandering going on.

This is one strange film folks, for a mainstream release. Strange because of the odd casting and even more odd string of scenes. The film is totally 70's in music, directing style and tacky scenery, tacky clothes and hairdos. Some scenes worth mentioning:Granny water skiing, Mr. Universe body building contest, Scatman Crothers with white hair and, again, the family butler, Sally Field full nude scene (nice hiney!) and bra-less for the entire rest of the film, Robert Englund pre-Freddy Kruger, A female dojo master who karate chops some hicks, Ed Begley Jr as some "zero defect" guy, kinky hooker tryouts (yep), a pervert with the worst toupee, and 30-40 Speedo-clad body builders running through busy city streets. The film is a bit of a mess, sort of meanders all over the place and makes no point that I could decipher. Jeff Bridges is his usual quirky self. Arnold actually acts OK in this one and even has a kissing scene with Fields ( sort of like Meryl Streep kissing Ron Jeremy). Even with the odd characters, well known actors, and quirky scenes, this film still manages some how to bore.

Saw this in the late 70s at a theater in Memphis. I grew up in Birmingham, so I kept saying, "I've been there...I've been there!" Ah-nuhld plays an Austrian body-builder, which must have been a stretch; Robert Englund is his trainer. Sally Field does her only known nude scene so far, and as others have noted, also wears a lot of minimalist outfits--and goes water-skiing in what must be the smallest bikini seen before Dana Delany on China Beach several years later. Her classic line: "Ah ha'ad to do somethin' to get out of Pratt-ville!" (And Ah can certainly sympathize.) Jeff Bridges plays the agent of the giant soulless conglomerate trying to buy up the health club (where Ah-nuhld is in training, and his girlfriend Field (!) is the secretary) so they can build a high-rise--but gets sidetracked and has to reassess his priorities. Several scenes were shot at the B'ham country club (I've been there!), plus guest appearances by Schwarzenegger regular R.G. Armstrong (also seen as the general in "Predator"), Ed Begley Jr., Birmingham TV personality Fannie Flagg, and others. Armstrong absconds with the bodybuilding exhibition gate receipts, and ends up being chased from Boutwell Auditorium down 20th Street through downtown B'ham and Five Points by a hundred or so bodybuilders dressed in even less than Ms. Field's Bikini--about enough material in all to half-fill a bushel basket. Not bad, if you're so inclined. Years later I was bicycling down Lakeshore Drive in Mountain Brook and went right by the house used as Bridges' residence. Recognized it immediately. I also suspect from the dialog that there were more nude scenes involving Ms. Field, Mr. Bridges, and a bathtub, that ended up on the cutting room floor. At one point she says to him, "...the bath's ready..." Although nothing of this nature has appeared in 28 years, I remain on the lookout. Bottom line: an excellent puff-piece, hardly of earth-shaking significance but still highly recommended.

Well, this movie was a strange one, but somehow entertaining. Seeing Arnold playing a violin is just hilarious, he looks as if he would crack the instrument anytime soon in his big paw. The movies storyline was confusing at times and you ask yourself what the film is really about. Oh and couldn't they find a more appropriate name for an Austrian? I mean Joe Santo, come on! That sounds like a Spanish pornactor!