Since it was mentioned in the video up top, I'd like to throw a plug to "Dream Big", the documentary that was mentioned. I rented it yesterday out of boredom, and it was actually quite good. I usually don't have high hopes for these things based on the dreck Generation Iron puts out and similar, but Dream Big was surprising, and you could tell it was a labor of love for the guy.
The film mainly covers the Sprague years of Gold's, with about 70% being those years. 15% being earlier - Muscle Beach, Joe Gold, and 15% being other - Pumping Iron, biographical sketches, etc.... If you've followed bodybuilding history, some of it will be common knowledge to you, but the film fleshes it out enough with little tidbits of new info, and a nice presentation that makes it enjoyable. The film also does a good job of interviewing the older guys like Ken Waller, Dave Dupre, Rudy Hermosillo, Bill Grant, Manuel Perry, etc.... Bill Grant and Waller come off especially well in it.
There isn't much gossip or schmoe content in the film, so if you want to hear about Sprague as Dakota or similar, look elsewhere. But there are some cute things I never heard or saw before, like Arnold getting Waller a job on "Stay Hungry" with the condition he must show up looking much shittier than Arnold, or he'd be recast. Or things like video of Franco Columbu trying to sell Vitalis hair spray -
.
Also the film like many documentaries, is slow, but well done. So don't expect a tour de force. It would make a good Sunday morning watch, it reminded me of PBS's the "American Experience" series in style and tone.
If you'd like to give it a go, you can watch it here for free -
https://tubitv.com/movies/712150/dream-big .
