Stay Hungry

Stay Hungry – 1976, Bob Rafelson

Did you know Schwarzenegger won a Golden Globe?
Hard to believe, but having seen his uniquely humble performance in Stay Hungry, I can dig it. By this point in his career Arnold had been in a couple of films where he either said nothing or was entirely dubbed, but in this forgotten gem he holds his own along side a young Jeff Bridges.

I stuck this on my LoveFilm list for the sake of Schwarzenegger completionism but I was pleasantly surprised. Jeff plays a young blue blooded Alabamian who’s got time and money to spare, Arnold plays...a bodybuilder. Not exactly a stretch, but watching him in this film it’s amazing to see him play an intelligent and sensitive young hulk, revelling in the hospitality of the Deep South, opposite Bridges’ equally young yet jaded local.

Jeff and Arnold were only born a couple of years apart and from this scene it’s like they could have been brothers (if one of the brothers had become Mr Universe).



‘You can’t grow without burning’. Truer words never spoken. Sally Field is also in this as the love interest that the two studs are kind of fighting over.

The guys who make Family Guy clearly don’t think much of her, but she never looked better than here. Little know actor R G Armstrong gives an excellent performance as the strange gym owner ‘Thor’. You’ll recognise Armstrong as General Phillips from Predator:



The film ends in drama and farce as Thor’s self destructive tendencies come to a head amid a comedy shambles typical of films of this period. This is a serious film, but it has the same joyful vibe as films like Smokey and The Bandit and Every Which Way But Loose, the poster for which I feature purely for it’s awesomeness:

True Grit

True Grit – 2010, Joel and Ethen Coen

If you’re into the whole brevity thing, True Grit can be summed up thus; Another great Coen Brothers Film.

Maybe we’re being spoilt by Joel and Ethan. Twenty years of excellent films, some may argue without exception. Who else can boast that kind of record? Wes Anderson had better pick up the pace if he is to be as prolific and successful.

Initial reports that the Coens were making a Western were met with slight surprise in some quarters. ‘A Western? Who makes Westerns nowadays?’ Not many people, and when they do it often result in embarrassing box office failure for the big names involved, eh Mr Costner. But it should be no surprise that the Coens are branching out into genres. What else are they going to do? Make the same darkly comic noir with a convoluted plot involving blackmail and murder? They must be bored of that by now.

And of course the modern Western isn’t the same as the classic Western. Somewhere between Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven, Westerns became costume dramas; all historically accurate and filthy looking. The period western allows the Coens to take their penchant for wordy, articulate, unselfconscious dialogue and apply it to a setting where it might not seem so out of place. Although for the first time ever when watching a Ceon film, I felt that the dialogue got a bit tiresome by the end, especially when Josh Brolin’s moronic character also started employing far too many words in his few lines.

True Grit is very good, just like all the other Coen films, and because they are all so good, any bits that aren’t so good tend to stick out. The weak link in this one is Josh Brolin (who doesn’t deserve equal billing to Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon). His role is just about big enough to support those who argue that he’s one of the most overrated actors out there. Fortunately the role played by Robert Duval in the 1969 version is played here by the vastly underrated Barry Pepper (excellent in 25th Hour and The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada, worthy of forgiveness for Battlefield Earth). All the supporting characters are as well cast as ever, and Hailee Stenfeld is good, but maybe not deserving of every best actress nomination going.

As for Bridges, I love the guy, though I suppose it’s all because of The Dude. As I peruse his Wikipedia entry I’m reminded of how few of his films I’ve seen. Other than ‘Labowski’ I’m only familiar with Starman, K-Pax, Tron, Iron Man the King Kong remake he was in...time for a dedicated Bridges-athon.

What next for the Coen Brothers?
Space Opera starring Liam Neeson?
Period Spy Drama starring Ralph Fiennes?
Renaissance era Farce starring Ben Kingsly?
(yes I have been watching Schindler’s List)