Honestly, before I looked into the details, all I knew about the guy was that he was born in Graz, Austria. About a year and a half after my father, incidentally. Made it big-time in the States (that despite making such thrillers as Cactus Jack).
However, the more and more I had read on the guys life, the less inclined I was to believe he was a nice guy. In short, he’s an asshole.
Most people would bring to light the fact that his father served with the Germans as a Nazi (he actually joined around two weeks before they took over Austria - dedicated sprite he was). To be honest, knowing the time that they were living in and where they were living, this failed to suprise me. Nor did it affect my judgement of him in the slightest (“sins of the fathers” shit holds no sway with me, as I doubt it does with most rational people). I really didn’t have much of an opinion on the guy until recently.
Then I started hearing more and more about the stuff that he had said (there was recently a SD thread on how his 1977 Oui interview would affect his California campaign). (Not related to the 1977 interview, but also of interest) Apparently, the Austrian Oak had also commented on the brilliance of the aparthied scheme in South Africa to his African-American body-building buddy Rick Wayne. He’s also supposedly brought body-building legend Joe Weider (who’s Jewish) close to tears making crass jokes and doing impressions of Adolf Hitler. He’s also reported to have made loads of lewd suggestions and overtures to female workers/collegues/reporters/you-name-it-that’s-wearing-a-skirt. Obviously these allegations go with the territory for a regular superstar, but with Arnold I’m willing to believe it (or at least the spirit of it).
That was after I watched a tape on a documentary made by the BBC about the profession of bodybuilding, part of which which extensively covered the Terminator. I’ll tell ya, even the allegations don’t do it justice. He tells one female (in his sublime accent) “there, feel my rippling muscles” (or something of the sort). When she reels away in terror from this man-mammoth, he looks into the camera and purrs “ha ha, she was scared of me”, looking almost quasi-sexual about it. There were lots of other juicy bits, like his supposed affair with Bridgette Nielson, and how he yanked her away from Sly Stallone, only to dump her cruelly and in a calculated fashion after deciding to pursue one of the Kennedy girls. His reported suggestion to the producers of the Incredible Hulk (this one I really DO believe) that Lou Ferrigno was better suited to the role of the green monster because he was slightly deaf and talked with a limp tongue (rendering him “slow and dumb”) seemed real amusing to me. It typified what I now thought of him as - a lumbering hulk who wasn’t the first guy I’d rush up to if I wanted to talk about my feelings. Scrap that last sentence. It isn’t strong enough.
Add to all this intrigue his alleged links to strange right-wing groups and White supremacists, it adds for an interesting concoction.
I’m using the word “alleged” a lot aren’t I? I guess nothing of this can/is proven for sure. Seems like conjecture. But honestly, knowing something about the bitchiness of the male body profession I don’t doubt he really did psyche out his opponents ruthlessly in order to get ahead. Considering he was raised by what was effectively a Nazi I’m not at all suprised he has had(allegedly, remember?) questionable racial ideas or attitudes. Looking at videotapes of him in various interviews I would stake money on the fact that he’s probably made a million sexually charged advances on women. Some say, “well, he’s changed now. He’s different”. I’d say, “no. He’s just too smart to say that kind of thing in public now”.
All of which isn’t to say that I don’t have a tremendous amount of respect for the guy. Let’s face it, an Austrian immigrant who has the personality of an oven-dried doormat and the acting skills of a diseased chimpanzee taking an acid trip (in fairness this is an insult - the chimp is far too lively) comes to America, strikes gold and marries a Kennedy, humping gorgeous women and getting away with all sorts of unacceptable behaviour along the way. I hear he made millions in the property market before he made it in movies. Doesn’t suprise me one bit - he’s a clever political mover, ruthless and calculating.
Of course now’s about the time that many people will chime in with, "well, he’s a charity-donater and he gives to the Simon Wiesenthal center, he’s a great guy. Yeah, I reply, coz he can afford it. “But he always supports multi-racialism”. He wouldn’t exactly make racist comments in public now, for reasons that if I have to describe them to you, you should stop reading this thread right now. If he made them ages ago, wouldn’t exactly matter would it, he was just an average hunk o’ burnin deltoids. Are we really so sure that he’s changed his views so completely now? Do “political” (yes and I choose to call them that-- OK how about “strategic”?) donations to various charitable organizations totally count this out?
Ah well, I let you decide. For the die-hard Schwarzenegger fans (of which I am definitely one of), I say don’t threaten me with murder. I mainly started this off coz I’m bored, and sitting here planning out my strategy for world domination. What I DO love about the guy is that he is refreshingly frank about most of his exploits. I’m in awe of someone with his background who can be a complete asshole and not only make-it to the top, but have people love him for it. I love you Arnold, this drink is on the house.