Around him, some of the Manhattan art scenes most famous critics sat and pontificated.
Charles Gaines said that it was like trying to promote midget wrestling.
It was so tawdry… everyone we knew was laughing at us.
He had dreams of becoming an actor.
But Arnold had already won the Mr Olympia competition five times in a row between 1971 and 1974.
Where was the drama?
Where was the intrigue?
Butler and Fiore had a plan.
But there are certain things that arent true.
Thats why we didnt call it a documentary, we called it a docu-drama.
The only way we could raise the money for the movie was to make it more dramatic.
Pumping Irondepicted a highly competitive world of mind games and cold-hearted tactics.
Pumping Irontherefore gave Schwarzenegger a chance to flex his acting skills as well as his muscles.
These and many, many other scenes were either exaggerated or fabricated entirely for Butlers roving camera.
The results of the competitions, however, were genuine.
Ferrigno came third in the Mr Olympia competition, while Schwarzenegger won for a sixth and final time.
In this particular underdog story, the good guys fought and lost.
Pumping Irons heightened view of competitive bodybuilding was a hit with audiences when it appeared in January 1977.
Pumping Ironarrived as a fitness craze began to take hold in America.
Body building and physicality became a hip thing, Stallone once said of the period.
Its okay to be proud of your body.
The new fitness craze was reflected in the design of the gyms themselves.
The cover of the November 1981 issue ofTimemagazine read, The fitness craze: America shapes up.
As fitness began to permeate popular culture, Arnold Schwarzeneggers acting career kicked off in earnest.
All of that changed withPumping Iron.
Conan The Barbarianarrived in 1982, and was a huge hit.
Both the 70s and 80s fitness craze and the pumped-up action hero embodied the tone of the Reagan era.
Pumped-up wrestlers and toned Calvin Klein models became a common sight in magazines, TV ads and on billboards.
The traditional action movie crystalised a moment of American history that, to modern eyes, seems almost quaint.
It was a period of acquisition, brash self-confidence and sculpted bodies.