Neon Dreams x Paid In Sweat: PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN (1985) - Presented on 35mm!

 

 

Neon Dreams joins forces with fellow Revue series Paid In Sweat to co-present Pumping Iron II: The Women—the female-forward followup to George Butler's canonical Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding docudrama. If you haven't seen the first one, you don't need to! This standalone triumph is an immensely satisfying experience in its own right and a hidden gem in the truest sense of the expression. Due to various rights issues, the film has been unavailable on any commercial platform since 1992, and we are thrilled to be able to present it on an extremely rare 35mm print courtesy of White Mountain Films.

 

 

Pumping Iron II follows five top female bodybuilders — Rachel McLish, Bev Francis, Carla Dunlap, Lori Bowen and Lydia Cheng — each armed with an iron determination as they prepare for the Caesar’s Palace World Cup Championship. The heart and raging debate of this wildly original film, however, is not the competition among the women, but the lack of consensus among the all-male judges as to whether Bev Francis, an athlete “pound for pound stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger,” as observed by Gloria Steinem, was “feminine” enough to be allowed to win. A riveting and occasionally hilarious examination of the boundaries of femininity, Pumping Iron II is as timely today than when this pioneering movie was made. Viewers today will also appreciate the nods in film style and fashions to mid-'80s Hollywood sleeper hit Flashdance. (BRENDAN ROSS)