My general feeling about the book is very positive. I got what I wanted: the life story of this cinema action hero. But this is only one quarter of the book, and I got much more in the three other quarters: his youth, his bodybuilding years and his political years.
The book is well written and easy to read, probably thanks to the assistance of the professional writer Peter Petre credited on the cover. As was mentionned in the Mad Movies review, the book is illustrated with many nice and rare photos covering all the periods of his life.
It is very interesting to learn how he came to bodybuilding, and fun to read that the first town he went to when leaving Austria was Munich, to work in a Gym located not 500 meters from where I currently live! From the windows of the Gym he was flirting with the flight attendants in the hotel across the street. He also appeared at Strong Man contests at the Löwenbräukeller. It felt pleasant that throughout the book he mentions locations in Munich that are familiar to me.
He spends an extra effort teaching the reader what is bodybuilding. Actually you learn that spreading knowledge about bodybuilding was something he did continuously when he was a champion. He mentions that when he met Andy Warhol, the artist became very interested in this sport, as he found it was similar to sculpture but with one's own body.
You also learn that bodybuilding competitions are merciless. Arnold tells you how he won a contest against his mentor by tricking him to leave the stage too early, or how he convinced the young and inexperienced Lou Ferrigno to loose against him before they even compete, thanks to a form of mental harrassement. This is something you can witness in the movie Pumping Iron. When he unexpectely came back to win his last title he also made many people unhappy.
As mentionned in the Mad Movies review, he is very direct in the book about his ambition for earnig money (through success). For example I learned that he was millionnaire before even starting his cinema career, thanks to real estate investments. He also tells that he achieved his objective of doubling his salary at almost every new movie he made, from $ 750.000 for The Terminator to $ 15.000.000 for True Lies. Turning one dollar into two is a hobby for him.
The part about his years as cinema action hero is filled with interesting anecdotes related to some of my favorite movies like Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, or Total Recall. It also made me want to see movies I didn't know like the documentary Pumping Iron, his first serious role in Stay Hungry or his last action film before politics Collateral Damage.
I started to slightly loose interest while reading the political part, which is interesting nonethless. I learned how he came to politics, but did not always agree with his Republican choices, even if he calls himself a centrist, strongly defends the environment and was married to a member of the historical Democrat Kennedy clan. I don't share his view of the USA and the Republican party, that both represent to him the dream that everything is an opportunity for business. In that respect he is very well adapted to being an American. He often writes how good it is that the price of Real Estate increases so much, but he doesn't see it from the viewpoint of the regular guy who needs to rent or buy a place to simply live.
He also quotes at some point an example of the price of milk that was going through the roof, and he criticizes the Democrat federal government that has forced it down. He defends the point of view that the Market would have stabilized itself alone after the milk distributors had made huge profits, but doesn't see that meanwhile the regular consumers would have to pay crazy milk prices for nothing, just for others to get richer.
I was not at all aware of his love life and this came as a surprise to me: his wife Maria, the Kennedy clan etc... He dedicates a small chapter at the end of the book to "The Secret", that is the 14-years old child he has had with his house maid, and the subsequent divorce from with his wife. Arnold sells himself as a faithful man, but he doesn't explicily write that he cheated his wife only once... Also earlier in the book he mentions that he went on a wild holiday tour of Europe with the hot Brigitte Nielsen after shooting Red Sonja, and that when he came back to his Maria in the USA (they were already together although not married), he was happy to "get rid of her" and introduce her future husband Sylvester Stallone to her.
Back to more general comments about how Arnold Schwarzenegger presents himself in the book. He is a very hard-working person insisting on the fact that there are 24 hours in a day, with only 6 for sleeping, and the rest can be used for improving youself: learning, working, doing business. He seems very clever and eager to learn. The strategy he has always followed for learning something new or improving something he knew (bodybuilding, acting, playing comedy, art, politics...) is to meet very talented people in that domain and absorb from their teaching like a sponge. Actually he made a lot of connections in life and kind of forced his way into high society.
He doesn't hide that he has often said outrageous things in public, but pretends it was always on purpose because he likes to offend and disturb people. I am not sure to believe this, or to rather think he usually speaks faster than he thinks.
He says himself that he is a paradox, too big for beeing an actor, to dumb for politics, a Republican with some Democrats ideas, convinced that environment needs to be protected but at the same time smoking cigar and driving a Hummer.
The book ends with 10 tips from Arnold on how to succeed in life, which makes for a good conclusion.
I am glad to have read this autobiography, in which I learned a lot in good but also in bad about this special character. Recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment