Stay Hungry (1976) on Netflix
Craig Blake, a rich young man in Birmingham, Alabama, is asked to buy a small gym for a real estate deal. There he meets receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth and bodybuilder Joe Santo.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb5.6/105,691 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes69%
Trailer
Plot summary
Craig Blake, a young Southerner from a wealthy family, keeps a large mansion in Birmingham, Alabama, with only a butler for company after a plane crash killed his parents. He fishes and hunts to fill his days. At a hotel banquet hall he becomes part of a real estate bundling scheme run by the con artist Jabo: each conspirator buys a single property for a planned office high-rise, and Blake is given the small gym to purchase. There he introduces himself as a businessman and meets the owner, Thor Erikson, and the employees Franklin and Newton. He grows drawn to receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth and to Joe Santo, a bodybuilder training for the Mr. Universe competition.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Stay Hungry (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sally Field wrote in her autobiography that during her audition, director Bob Rafelson asked her to take her shirt off and kiss him; in a 2019 interview, Rafelson denied it.
- Stay Hungry was the last film production designer Toby Carr Rafelson worked on with her then-husband, director Bob Rafelson. After learning he pursued women during production, including Sally Field, she filed for divorce and never worked with him again.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger won a Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture for Stay Hungry, though it was not his true debut: he had already played Hercules in Hercules in New York (1970), a henchman in The Long Goodbye (1973) and a masseur in a 1974 TV movie.
- Bodybuilder Roger Callard said that while making the film the director screamed over his megaphone, "Please do not touch the bodybuilders!", because people were rushing and even scratching the bodybuilders.
- Talking Heads named a song, Stay Hungry, after the film, placing it on their album More Songs About Buildings and Food.
