Come across a movie on youtube which describes the lead-up and 1980 Olympia contest where Arnold made his comeback after 5 years from competition.
There is 9 parts, so about 45-50mins all up.
A worthwhile watch if your a fan of schwarzenegger and the 80’s era of body building. Also a few interviews with Tom Platz.
- YouTube -part 1
there is 9 parts just find them in the related videos section obviously.
Enjoy.
Tom Platz has the widest jaw I have ever seen!
I just can’t stop looking! 
I haven’t watched it all yet, but nice find. Thanks for posting this.
my training partner is obsessed with arnold. fwding this to him. thanks mate.
brilliant. epic music too.
I havent clicked the link yet, but was this the film that was originally supposed to be called ‘the comeback’, but then after the contest looked so rigged, it was never released?
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I havent clicked the link yet, but was this the film that was originally supposed to be called ‘the comeback’, but then after the contest looked so rigged, it was never released?
S
[/quote]
I would say so. Arnold did look good, but he looked better in 75 and without a doubt the competition was better here then 75. I thought Tom Platz looked great and he didn’t even make the pose off - and your right about his jaw, I couldn’t stop looking at it either lol. I think it said Bill Pearl was the head judge, and him and Arnold were good friends if I remember right.
Part 8 3:48, fucking great
Can anyone post the link for part 7 – it’s missing when I look in the “related vids” section. I’d appreciate it.
Watched parts 1-3, so far. Platz’s line about bodybuilding being like Jonathan Livingston Seagull (short, allegorical book about a bird who wants to transcend normal existence) in part 3 really got me. A little trippy, but cool, too.
Thanks for the link to part 7, Artem.
Just now finished watching the whole thing. It’s a pity if the film was never released – if they tried to market it as “Arnold is the best – better than anybody else!” I could see why, but if they’d just presented it as a straightforward documentary of his story (along with those of some other characters of interest) going into the '80 Olympia…
Anyway, I think the footage is great. I didn’t so much watch this as contest coverage as pay attention to all the cool characters. People I’d only seen in “flashback” type magazine articles came off as so much more interesting when they were walking, talking, representing themselves in their own words.
Platz, notably (who was a beast, btw), came off differently than I’d imagined him. So did Samir Bannout (in the brief look we got at him – who was the guy with him, btw? know him by look but not by name – guy who said “Zane & Schwarzenegger are in trouble.”)
Arnold’s comments revealed a lot about him – some stuff we didn’t see in Pumping Iron. Cool to see Dickerson, Coe (also looked good), Franco (even if not competing). Surprised how little we saw of Mentzer, but I’ve got to remember the filmmakers wouldn’t have known about the controversy beforehand. I also don’t know about the history enough to know how prominently MM would have been on everyone’s radar going IN to the contest.
Other thing that struck me is how much more those guys seemed to fit their era – to me anyway – than a lot of current pros (or the whole pro scene) do today. I realize I’m stereotyping, but…
Okay, enough. Suffice it to say I dug the film and it got me thinking. Thanks for the post.
Pumping Iron was more a drama then a documentary, nothing new there but the impression of Arnold after watching that was totally different then who is really is, i.e the scene about his dad dying before a competition and not going to a funeral, giving Franco bad advice etc. The whole scene of Ken Waller throwing a football saying he was gonna steal Mike Katz’s shirt was shot after that actual competition.
However, if you’ve read his books as well, namely Education of a Bodybuilder, he always went into a competition with a winning mindset. In his mind, he had already won, and he never second guessed himself. Of all the competitions he entered, he only ever lost 2, in which he placed 2nd in both.
So with that in mind, it was interesting to hear him say how vulnerable he felt up on stage here, especially with the perception you generally have of him after seeing Pumping Iron. It shows you a side of Arnold you haven’t really seen before.
I’m not sure what the deal was with Franco not competing though? He did win the 81 Olympia and was no doubt in shape to compete as far as I know.
This film was released I believe as well, although it seems to be pretty rare.
i think arnold was in shape but everyone would compare him to his 1975 physique,which was his peak obviously.
he did hold a bit of water but it was 1980
“It’s a ten pound plate, but you have to make it sound like a thousand pounds.” lol
I’m so much more of a Tom Platz fan now.
Seeing him chill on bondi beach was also really cool, although amazingly they managed to find an overcast day to film it on. You would’nt get that now.