Just as man evolved from naïve, cave-dwelling, hunters and gatherers to educated, science-driven, debutants; bodybuilders started as circus side-show acts at the turn of the 20th century and, eventually, transformed into Ronnie Colemanesque 292lb sinewy, shredded, muscle-machines. To chronicle this 
transmogrification, Shawn Ray and his partner Patrick Rivera created the movie, Evolution of Bodybuilding which they hope will be the modern-day rendition of Pumping Iron. To help launch the release, they held a private screening at the Regal Cinemas in downtown Los Angeles and invited a select hundred or so industry insiders, press, and friends of the movie. Shawn was kind enough to invite me to the event so I thought it was only appropriate to check out what all the hype was about and report to the Rx Muscle community my honest assessment.
After almost losing my $2000 video camera and $1000 light (thank god Nicole Wilkins and Marcus Haley kept an eye on it at the Met-Rx booth where I accidentally left it), I bolted out of the LA Fit Expo at about 3:45pm, strode down past the Staples Center (where the LA Lakers play) and crossed through the Ritz Carlton till I approached the movie theater where I ran smack into Shawn greeting his guests outside the event. Upon my arrival, I was assaulted by Lauren Powers who attempted to put me in a behind-the-neck chokehold. In our industry, Lauren is known as a brutally honest, wear-her-opinion-on-her-bright-skintight-catsuit, news reporter. The next hug (although a lot gentler and more enjoyable) came "Ruthless" Ruth Silverman (of Ironman magazine) and her sidekick, the beautiful Nancy DiNino. Next, Shawn Ray's two adorable daughters reminded me of the new friendship we cemented at the Masters Pro World Championships this past December where they both entertained me with gymnastic aerials and an impromptu dance recital in the lobby of the Eden Rock Hotel. Of much greater relevance to the event, however, were the icons of the sport that were also in attendance-- Richie "The Dragon Slayer" Gaspari, 8x Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman, and 8x Ms Olympia Lenda Murray
After purchasing a large popcorn (with no added butter, of course), I entered the theater for the much-anticipated screening of the movie. The lights dimmed, the projector rolled and the audience was treated to a 20 minute slide show of black and white, extremely faded (at some points), old photos of various bodybuilders throughout the ages. We were shown the likes of Larry Scott, Boyer Coe, Dennis Tinerino, Ed Corney, Lou Ferrigno and Arnold. Then the photos continued into the modern era with guys like Dorian Yates, Flex Wheeler, Ronnie Coleman, and Jay Cutler. Why this montage of less-than-spectacular photos with absolutely no titling was shown for 20+ minutes, I have no idea. The truth is that unless you were a true student of the sport, you would, more than likely, have no idea who 85% of the bodybuilders were. To make matters worse, the fact that there were no names on the photos made it extremely hard for many in attendance to watch. In my mind, the proper place for this collection of photos would have been at the end of the movie while the credits were rolling. And I would have limited it to 5 minutes in total.
Next, the motion picture part of the movie started with a dynamic history lesson of how bodybuilding came about and who Eugene Sandow was. It then continued by explaining how Joe and Ben Weider started their magazine empire from the poverty stricken Jewish ghettos of a small Canadian town. I enjoyed hearing about how Joe and Ben outwitted Bob Hoffman, the reigning king of contest promotions and magazine sales, by taking bodybuilding from an afterthought at powerlifting events and making it the main attraction in the newly formed International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB).
What was even more interesting was hearing Peter McGough (former Editor-in-Chief of FLEX magazine) describe in tandem with Larry Scott (the 1st Mr. Olympia) the story of how the Mr. Olympia contest was named. Apparently, Joe and Ben were eating dinner at the time with an up-and-coming Scott when Joe took note of the name of the beer he was being served—Olympia Beer. Joe told Scott that he felt the gods were sending him a message to name the superbowl of bodybuilding, Mr. Olympia. Scott felt the name, the Mr. Broccoli contest would be more appropriate since it conveyed health and purity. Luckily, as fate would have it, the Weider brother stuck with "olympia" and the most famous bodybuilding contest in history was created.
It was at this point that the movie started to lose some of its steam. In fact, if it weren't for Pete McGough, the movie would have fallen flat on its face. 
McGough truly is a bevy of bodybuilding information, and his photographic memory of the events of the last 40+ years are nothing short of miraculous. Adding to his detailed accounts were photographer Bill Dobbins and bodybuilding Hall of Famer, Boyer Coe, who had no problems whatsoever telling it like it really was. While the commentary and storytelling was strong, the lack of visuals— relevant photos or videos—to complement the stories being told make it hard to visualize (unless you were a historian of the sport) what these individuals were actually talking about. A movie is only as good as the images it projects and the audio commentary that's heard. While the audio quality was, for the most part, solid, there were some spots that contained annoying static that should have been fixed in post-production. Likewise, when Peter McGough is talking about the showdown between Dorian Yates and Lee Haney in 1991, it was an absolute necessity to show video, or in the very least, visual footage of this posedown. I'm not sure if the fact that this was a "Muscular Development Production" had any bearing on Shawn Ray's ability to procure Olympia video footage from AMI/Weider but why couldn't the editing team at least find relevant photos to document the various showdowns at all the Olympias discussed? I have to think that this movie might require another edit to address some of these concerns. After all, when Shawn Ray and company can't catch the fact that they spelled Kevin Levrone's name wrong, it leads me to believe that the movie may have been rushed to release before it had really been gone over with a fine-tooth comb.
Dorian Yates, Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman, Boyer Coe, and Lou Ferrigno were the most entertaining bodybuilders to speak. Shawn Ray also added a level of professionalism in tackling the drug-testing fiasco of 1990 where he was forced to give up his Arnold Classic title and the $60,000 check due to a failed drug test for Winstrol. On the other hand, Joe Weider (who's obviously very sick) was barely able to tell the story of how he brought Arnold over to America. And I'm surprised we didn't hear commentary from the likes of Flex Wheeler, Arnold, Franco Columbu, or more from Kevin Levrone (who's one of the most verbally interesting bodybuilders ever to compete).
An interesting aside is that Muscular Development owner Steve Blechman's insights that originally appeared in the 15-minute teaser of the movie that Ray showed at the Masters Pro World Championships are shockingly missing. I guess the fact that Blechman's hair was blowing all over the North Shore boat marina it was filmed at was too embarrassing for him to deal with. The truth is that Blechman's contribution to the bodybuilding industry is, in fact, vitally relevant to the evolution of the iron sport. I would have loved to hear him tell the story of how the Weider brothers tried to block Twin Labs (the Blechman family business) from competing in the supplement industry by refusing to accept their product ads in the Weider publications. In turn, the Blechmans responded by suing Weider and, out of necessity, purchasing the Muscular Development magazine name from Bob Hoffman's widow. And, interestingly, this ultimately led to the FLEX vs Muscular Development magazine wars of the last 20 years. Just think about all the money that wound up in bodybuilder's pockets because of that battle!
As a whole, did I like the movie? Yes! I'm a student of the sport and I loved hearing all the old-time stories and gossip that accompanied the creation of present-day bodybuilding. I can honestly listen to Peter McGough and Bill Dobbins talk about the old days for hours; however, I'm not sure that there are many other people (with the exception of the hardcore fans) who will find Evolution of Bodybuilding palatable enough to swallow the full 90 minutes of it. In fact, regular people like my dad would have a lot of trouble keeping track of all the characters and all the bodybuilding lingo being used (especially in the absence of supportive photos and video). Here's what needs to happen. Take this diamond–in-the-ruff back to the editing table and hire the geniuses who edited Chris Bell's movie, Bigger, Stronger, Faster, and let them work their magic on it. I'm sure they'd trim it up, find a way to get the necessary photos and videos, and make it flow in a more compelling manner. If that were to happen, I think Shawn and his partner, Patrick Rivera, would have the makings of much more watchable movie. Will it ever be mainstream? Probably not; but who cares! It's a historical gift that chronicles the history of the sport we all love so dearly!
