Reading this I kept thinking I could swear I'd read an Arnie memoir before, but nope - this is his first. I think because at his height in the 80s and 90s we kept hearing his story in every second article about him: the Austrian upbringing (was dad a Nazi, waking up in the freezing cold to milk the cows etc etc), the body building obsession (up at the break of day to work out, the admiration for Reg Park), his domination of competitions, the move to American, making his own fortune via mail order, construction and real estate before becoming an actor, getting off to a great start with Stay Hungry and Pumping Iron before wobbling for a bit (Cactus Jack) then finding genuine stardom with Conan and icon status with The Terminator, Republican leanings despite a Democrat wife. When his film career wobbled he went into politics, becoming governor of California.
Arnie worked super hard at everything - even though this is a memoir I don't doubt it, just look at the dude. He seems to have been a prized novelty in the 70s, hanging out with Nicholson and Beatty, guest starring on Lucille Ball's show - but he was keen to learn and always pushed himself.
He's such a positive person - in this book he goes on and on about how great Maria is/was and their courtship and love the family... mentions of his affair with Brigitte Nielsen (on Red Sonja, before he was married but well after he started going out with Maria) and the housekeeper which resulted in a kid, are given short shrift. To be fair though at least they're there - Arnie is also up front about his use of steroids, gamesmanship tactics in the world of body building in order to win, highly competitive nature, desire to say something outrageous which frequently got him into trouble. (He's more coy on the sexual harassment claims though they are consistent with the depiction of himself he sketches here.)
The chapters on California politics were a lot more interesting than I thought they would be - being governor sounds like a horrible job, but at least Arnie was a centrist Republican (it's enjoyable to hear him get stuck into the lunatic fringe of that party). It seemed to dent even his relentlessly upbeat nature.
I was most interested in the movies, of course, and while I am fairly familiar with Arnie's career there was plenty of new stuff: genuine affection for John Milius, taking a punt on John McTiernan for Predator off the back of Nomads (Arnie took a lot of risks on newer directors starting out, eg Jame Cameron, McTiernan), criticisms of the Predator and Conan sequels, dissastisfaction with Paul Michael Glaser's direction on The Running Man. He doesn't go into too much detail about the bad luck that dogged his cinema career from the mid 90s onwards - ever since True Lies, really, the Arnie movie, which used to be something special, has become a "whatever" movie. Eraser, Jingle All the Way, Collateral Damage, The Sixth Day, End of Days - anyone could have made these. And the public don't seem to care since he went back to acting. (He doesn't mention Christmas in Connecticut for some reason.)
I also found other stuff interesting too - body building, Austria, life with the Kennedys, politics, his scandals. He deserves all the success he's had, and the brickbats that have come his way (the housekeeper? really?) but I have such affection for him, that I wish him well and look forward to seeing what he's going to come up with next.
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