Stay Hungry

Wednesday, December 14 at 7:30 PM — The Auditorium at NEIU — 3701 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Tickets: $10 at the door

STAY HUNGRY
Directed by Bob Rafelson • 1976
Following the dissolution of his pioneering production company BBS, Bob Rafelson (Head) hunkered down in Birmingham, Alabama, to spin an au courant story about the fitness craze of the mid-’70s. A hyper-specific work of commercially minded regional filmmaking, Stay Hungry stars Jeff Bridges as kid millionaire Craig Blake, who returns home to his family mansion after his parents’ deaths. Craig needs to make a name for himself to be accepted by his country club uncle, so he starts working for some local real estate sharks who aspire to build the tallest high-rise in Birmingham. The last property left on the block is Olympic Spa, a gym owned by Thor Erickson (R.G. Armstrong), an oily businessman with a peephole in the floor of his office. Craig tries to buy this pit, but soon falls in with its regulars, including front desk clerk Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field) and gym rat Joe Santo (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who wears a superhero costume while training to be Mr. Universe. There’s homoerotic energy galore around Joe, particularly when he leads Craig into a forest for some mysterious assignation — but it turns out to be just a bluegrass fiddling contest! (You haven’t lived ’til you’ve seen Arnold with a tiny fiddle balanced on his bicep.) Nowhere near as (self-) serious as Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces, Stay Hungry nevertheless evokes a particular moment in American life with mirth and terror: a Dirty South bicentennial hangover. (KW)
102 min • United Artists • 35mm from Park Circus
Preceded by: “Vim, Vigor, and Vitaliky” (Fleischer Studios, 1936) – 7 min – 16mm