Before The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger Starred In A Forgotten Comedy With Jeff Bridges – SlashFilm

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pre-“Terminator” filmography is a captivating and sometimes terrifying place, the place one can uncover the wonders of “Pumping Iron” and “Conan the Barbarian” alongside the horrors of Schwarzenegger enjoying a killer bodybuilder within the bonkers ’70s TV present “The Streets of San Francisco.” Apparently sufficient, the yr previous to Arnie’s hilariously terrible portrayal of the maniac muscleman, he really appeared in a movie that earned him a Golden Globe for Finest Performing Debut in a Movement Image. To be truthful, although, the function of Austrian bodybuilder Joe Santo did not require a lot in the way in which of vary.

1976’s “Keep Hungry” was a dramedy that gave the then-inexperienced Schwarzenegger a strong function and his first important recognition within the business. Whereas the movie by no means actually entered the general public consciousness in a significant manner and isn’t talked about right now, it is a bit of a hidden gem in Schwarzenegger’s filmography. It noticed him workforce up with Jeff Bridges in a movie that proudly bore an “Introducing Arnold Schwarzenegger” credit score in its opening moments.

Charles Gaines tailored his 1972 novel of the identical title right into a screenplay, which he then handed to director Bob Rafelson to carry to fruition. The filmmaker was greatest recognized for his 1970 street drama “5 Straightforward Items,” which starred the very best actor ever, Jack Nicholson, and earned 4 Academy Award nominations and 5 Golden Globe nominations. “Keep Hungry” solely earned one Golden Globe nomination, however at the very least Arnie gained within the Finest Performing Debut class. What’s extra, whereas it wasn’t fairly “5 Straightforward Items,” “Keep Hungry” was removed from a catastrophe. In truth, with a 69% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, “Keep Hungry” is considered one of Arnie’s best pre-“Terminator” initiatives.

In the event you’ve ever wished to see Jeff Bridges dancing a jig whereas Arnold Schwarzenegger performs a fiddle, then “Keep Hungry” has what you want. Nevertheless it’s acquired loads extra going for it than that surreal vignette.

When Arnie got here to shoot “Keep Hungry,” he wasn’t technically a rookie, so the “introducing” credit score wasn’t technically correct. The Austrian Oak made his true movie debut in considered one of IMDb’s worst-rated films ever: 1970’s “Hercules in New York.” In the six years between that motion comedy and “Keep Hungry,” he’d landed just a few small roles in different initiatives, together with Robert Altman’s “The Lengthy Goodbye” and the TV movie “Completely satisfied Anniversary and Goodbye.” “Keep Hungry” was a a lot larger challenge for Schwarzenegger, nonetheless, giving the younger bodybuilder loads to do reverse Bridges and thereby validating its “introducing” credit score.

The movie sees Bridges play Craig Blake, the son of a rich Birmingham, Alabama couple who beforehand died in a aircraft crash. After Blake is requested to supervise his actual property firm’s buy of a small health club, he turns into fascinated by the approach to life of those that work and prepare there, principally as a result of it supplies a stark distinction to his commonplace nation membership-primarily based exploits. It is on the health club that he meets Austrian bodybuilder Joe Santo, who’s coaching for the upcoming Mr. Universe contest and with whom he types a bond. In the meantime, Bridges’ fish-out-of-water scion turns into infatuated with the receptionist, Mary Tate Farnsworth, who’s performed by a younger Sally Subject. 

After all, with the deal looming and Blake’s firm planning to tear down the health club, it is solely a matter of time earlier than issues take a flip for the more severe, which they finally do throughout a climactic Mr. Universe competitors.

“Keep Hungry” wasn’t met with unanimous vital reward, nevertheless it did win over some critics. What’s extra, Arnold Schwarzenegger out of the blue turned the recipient of honest reward from skilled critics who would have spontaneously combusted had been they compelled to look at “Hercules in New York.

Vincent Canby of The New York Instances wasn’t too impressed with the movie total, writing, “It’s the type of film whose vapidity is uncovered as quickly because the litter is eliminated.” He evidently believed “Keep Hungry” was “faux[ing] to be extra eccentric” than it actually was, however even Canby was complimentary of the performances — Schwarzenegger’s included. Likewise, in his three-star assessment, Roger Ebert highlighted Arnie. “Schwarzenegger, in his first dramatic function, turns in an fascinating efficiency as Bridges’s newfound buddy,” he wrote, whereas additionally praising the movie on the whole: “The most effective issues about Keep Hungry is that we have now nearly no thought the place it is going.”

“Keep Hungry” may not even reply the query of the place it is going by the point the credit roll, however its odd mixture of types is finally a variety of enjoyable. What’s extra, Arnie is definitely fairly good at varied factors, although there are specific scenes the place he and Bridges are clearly improvising they usually do not at all times stick the touchdown. Nonetheless, “Keep Hungry” is a extremely fascinating entry within the early Schwarzenegger canon. In the event you’re intrigued, the film is accessible to stream without spending a dime on probably the greatest streaming companies, Tubi.