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Pumping Iron II The Women

From the creator of PUMPING IRON – the film that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name – comes a film about blood, sweat, and beauty. PUMPING IRON II focuses on five, top female bodybuilders – Rachel McLish, Bev Francis, Lori Bowen, Carla Dunlap, and Lydia Cheng – each armed with an iron determination and the courage of a lioness, as they prepare for the Caesars Palace World Cup Championship.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great!
This is a fantastic documentary and it arrived in’new’ condition from the seller. I couldn’t be more pleased!

5 Stars This is better than Pumping Iron!
When you watch this film you wonder what happened to the Ms. Olympia contest where women look like healthy athletes (Carla Dunlop, Rachel McLish) to the vein-popping, manly-looking contestants of today? The movie hints the answer with the introduction of Bev Francis. Though she does not win the contest, you can sense that her type is the wave of the future.

I liked this movie far better to Arnold’s version, though Arnold was able to launch a mega-career from his movie where Rachel McLish only had a brief and unmemorable movie career.

The competition between McLish and Dunlop is fierce and more intriguing than the Arnold/Ferrigno competition of the men’s version. Just watching these two goddesses compete is worth the price of the disk!

5 Stars Rare, excellent DVD rendition (Technical Information)
While I think this is an awesome film (and think the original is quite a landmark as well), this review is intended to supply additional information from the packaging not provided by Amazon.

Catalog/Categorization:

Catalog #: CPMD2302

Stereo. 107 minutes. Not Rated. Suitable for most audiences. Parental discretion advised.

Distributed by Central Park Media, produced by Bar Belle Productions, 1985.

Language: English

Audio Format: Dolby Digital Stereo

Audio Notes: Dolby Digital soundtracks contain up to 5.1 channels of discrete audio. Playback from 2-channel DVD player outputs is compatible with stereo and Dolby Pro Logic reproduction.

Dual Layer Format: Layer transition may trigger a slight pause.

DVD Features: Bodybuilder Profiles, Director Profile, Production Notes, Director Interview, Photo Gallery, Previews and more

DVD-ROM Features: Interview with George Butler, Full Song Listing, Photo Gallery, Production Credits and more

Note: Reverse side of the case’s back panel (visible through inside of case) contains information on cast and chapter stops; however, my copy of this video is still factory-sealed so I am unable to provide this information. I hope this is still helpful to those considering this rare film!

3 Stars Interesting., But Way Too Biased
Wow, talk about “documentary” filmmakers having an agenda. These guys (George Butler and Charles Gaines) must have graduated from the Michael Moore School Of Objectivity.

This film is the follow-up to the highly-acclaimed “Pumping Iron,” made by the same guys about a decade earlier, and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, That one was well-done, even though they went out of their way to stretch the truth there, too. (Arnold is shown to be overly heartless and ruthless and his main competitors are pictured as easily-manipulated stupid idiots. Both were exaggerated).

Here, in the women’s edition of Pumping Iron, Gaines and Butler have two more main objectives: 1) show how Bev Francis got screwed out of the championship trophy; 2) show the Christian contestant to be downright evil and a big phony.

As someone who spent his career in the newspaper business:I can tell you editors pick and choose what they want you to see and hear. It’s called editing. You can bet thousands of footage was filmed for this “documentary.” On McLish, only the material that made her look bad was inserted in the film. That was obvious. We never see her shown in a positive light. And, of course, anytime they could get her to mention she was a Christian, and then follow that up with something the audience would find distasteful about her, all the better!

Regarding Francis, frankly, I agree — she did get robbed. Who in their right mind would argue she wasn’t hands down the best contestant? Nobody, even the gracious winner Carla Dunlap. However, the filmmakers could have let the viewers see the obvious, without hammering their point home time and time again, going out of their way to show how ignorant the judges were. It’s like…..okay, we know what’s happening here …. move on. How about showing more of the winner of the contest?

Overall, the movie was interesting, especially to people who work out regularly in a gym……. but it could have been so much better without the bias.

5 Stars please produce more DVD’s of this movie
Hi, I love this movie—please “re-issue” it on DVD again….and do a good transfer…thanks, p

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