I watched Blazing Saddles again the other day and the thing that I noticed the most was how uninspiring Mungo was. He is certainly a big guy, but not cartoonishly-freaky big like the character is supposed to be. The guys on World’s Strongest Man look a hell of a lot bigger. The same with Lou Ferigno(?). The I remember the incredible hulk seeming supernatural. But now he just looks like a weight lifter. Conan the Barbarian seemed unbelievable as well, but now watching the movies, there is nothing spectacular about Arnold.
But its not only the biggest of the big who seem to be so much more intimdating than their modern counterparts. When I watch early 80’s movies about high school and college, the big tough bully gang really lookes like a bunch of skinny little twerps.The Karate Kid bad guys,for example, they are just not an intimidating group of guys,(yeah I know that some of the intimidation factor is supposed to come from them knowing Karate). I don’t remeber noticing any of this before, so I guess they did okay in their roles at the time, but did working out really become that much more popular in the 20 years since? Most of the guys I hang out with are a lot more muscular than the tough guys in 80 movies, and they are just casual work-outers. This is truly mundane and pointless, but does anyone else notice the same thing?