Stay Hungry (film)
Encyclopedia
Stay Hungry is a 1976 dramatic comedy film
by director Bob Rafelson
from a screenplay by Charles Gaines
(adapted from his 1972 novel of the same name). The story centers on a young Birmingham, Alabama
, scion, played by Jeff Bridges
, who gets involved in a shady real-estate deal. In order to close the deal, he needs to buy a gym
building to complete a multi-parcel lot. When he visits the gym, however, he finds himself romantically interested in the receptionist (Sally Field
) and drawn to the carefree lifestyle of the Austria
n body builder
"Joe Santo" (Arnold Schwarzenegger
) who is training there for the Mr. Universe
competition.
Roger Callard, one of the top bodybuilders of that era, was quoted in a 1983 bodybuilding magazine regarding an event he experienced during the making of the film. “The director was screaming over his megaphone, ‘Please do not touch the bodybuilders!’ People were rushing us, even scratching us!”
Schwarzenegger won a Golden Globe for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture" for his portrayal of Joe Santo in Stay Hungry. Technically, it was not his debut role, since he had played Hercules (as "Arnold Strong") in the 1970 film Hercules in New York
and a hitman in Robert Altman
's 1973 film The Long Goodbye
. It was, however, the first time his voice had been heard on film as Hercules was dubbed and the hitman character was deaf and mute.
) is a young Southern man born of a wealthy family, but left lonely and idle after his parents died in a plane crash. He is content to spend his time fishing, hunting and puttering around his large family mansion, inhabited only by himself and a butler (Scatman Crothers
). Blake's "job" is a sinecure
working at a shady investment firm run by a slick con artist named Jabo (Joe Spinell
) and he does very little actual work. But since he has to have his name "on paper" somehow as an employee, he is asked to personally transact the purchasing of a small gym
that the real estate firm is buying in order to clear space for an office high-rise.
He initially approaches the gym representing himself as a businessman looking to buy it, and acts relatively impersonal with its staff, although he is strangely fascinated with the world he discovers there (reflecting the expansion of physical exercise to the mainstream which occurred in the 1970s). But Blake's primary social life is centered around the upscale country club
he attends. The audience is introduced to the ritzy country club crowd, including the WASP
-y Lester (Ed Begley, Jr.
) and the roguish rake Halsey (John David Carson
). Blake spends his time at this club with his friends playing tennis and shooting poker dice
, and flirting with the upper-class women of all ages - one of whom asks Blake to find an "authentic" musical guest for an upcoming party at the club.
As Blake moves forward with his business deal, he falls in love with the gym after visiting it several times - he is immediately taken by the pretty receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field
) and the free-spirited, friendly bodybuilder Joe Santo (Schwarzenegger), who aspires to win the Mr. Universe
title. He cannot bring himself to sell out his newfound friends at the gym for the sake of his job, and so he evades the inquiries of his friend and coworker Hal Foss as to his progress in the purchasing deal. All the while, he grows closer to Mary Tate and Joe Santo - who initially appear to be a couple. However, Mary Tate latches onto Craig romantically - and Santo gives Craig his blessing for this unorthodox relationship, claiming that he needs to keep himself challenged both in the gym and in his romantic life in order to succeed.
Mary Tate and Craig begin a passionate and exciting relationship. But trouble erupts when he tries to integrate Mary Tate into his country-club scene. This tension comes to a head at a party at the country club, which features Joe Santo as a musical guest, performing bluegrass
songs on the violin with a small country group. Craig, with Mary Tate as his guest (dressed inappropriately in a garish and revealing pink dress), is enthusiastic about Joe Santo's upcoming musical performance for the night. But Craig's friends, particularly Halsey, mock Santo as a "freak" and an outcast. When Halsey suggest that Santo disrobe and show the crowd his "tits," Craig throws a glass of Scotch in his face and tells Halsey that Santo could "crush him like an eggshell." A fight nearly breaks out between the two, but is broken up. Meanwhile a bitter Halsey and his friend Packman formulate a plan to embarrass Santo.
When Santo's musical act is finally put on stage, the crowd seems enthusiastic about the music, though the hostess of the party dismisses it as a "racket." However, Halsey and Packman drunkenly bellow at Santo and heckle the band. Santo notices it, but stoically continues playing. However, when Halsey screams "let's hear it for Muscle Beach
symphony orchestra!" Santo is unable to continue playing, puts down his violin and leaves the party. Meanwhile a frustrated Craig tries to convince Mary Tate to see him for who he really is, and not for his snobbish friends and ritzy surroundings.
The Mr. Universe contest is approaching fast and Santo is training hard. But Jabo, owner of the shady real estate firm, attempts to bribe the owner of the gym, Thor Eriksen, when he realizes that Blake will not purchase the building as he was supposed to. He plies Eriksen and his assistant Newton with drugs, booze and hookers, and on the day of the contest, they are busy with acts of debauchery as Santo is readying to take the stage - hoping to beat his rival Dougie Stewart (fellow bodybuilder Ken Waller
in a memorable cameo). While Thor is drunk and distracted with the prostitutes, Newton secretly stashes the prize money inside his handbag, and then leaves the gym with the prostitutes when they are finished - stealing the money and fleeing. Meanwhile, Joe Santo and Dougie Stewart pose together on stage, to the theme song from the film 'Exodus' and the enthusiastic applause of the crowd.
Meanwhile Blake visits at the gym and engages in an intense physical fight, dodging weights and gym equipment thrown by the drunken and drug-crazed Eriksen. He finds Mary Tate at the gym, who had just moments earlier been assaulted by Eriksen in an amyl nitrite
fueled rage.
When the contestants at the Mr. Universe show discover that the prize money has been stolen, they run after Joe Santo, who himself is actually running to try to meet Mary Tate. The chase results in the wave of bodybuilders pouring out into the streets of Birmingham, to the amazed crowd of onlookers which sees them. The bodybuilders take advantage of this unexpected attention to put on an impromptu posing routine for the crowd, and the members of the crowd join in, imitating the athletes' poses and enjoying themselves - an embracing of the bodybuilding lifestyle by 'normal' people which arguably represents the real-life 1970s boom of personal fitness.
The film ends with Craig sarcastically deriding his former bosses at the real-estate firm, and deciding to go into the gym business with Joe Santo. A voice-over by his uncle Albert says, "you may not have been the Blake that we anticipated, but you are definitely Craig Blake - an identity that no one will dare challenge." Craig has finally "found himself" and discovered a true place in the sun, and true friendships, and he mocks his former boss Jabo with an exaggerated bodybuilding pose - acting as a final burning of the bridge between his old life and his new one. The final shot of the film shows Craig moving out of his family's mansion, passing on all of his old family memorabilia to his loyal butler, and leaving behind his old self once and for all - on the way to a new and exciting future.
and Native American
descent. The novel also features a great deal more back-story into Santo's past - he is shown to have served in the Korean War
, received a Purple Heart
after being wounded by an enemy bullet, and then spent time as an international envoy promoting peace and brotherhood through music and traditional Menominee
Indian folk songs. He also made handcrafted Native American jewelry which became very popular - even making a necklace for Mamie Eisenhower
. After this, Santo spent time working on a drilling rig in the Berry Islands
, and then was a professional fishing guide before becoming a bodybuilder.
The film omits all of this backstory and changes the character of Santo to an Austrian - to better fit with the real life personality of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In Stay Hungry, Santo is instead described as having been a competitive swimmer and a curling
champion - both of which Schwarzenegger actually was.
The other major difference is that the entire plot-line about the crooked real-estate firm, and the attempt to buy the gym to make room for a high-rise building, is not part of the original story at all. In the novel, Craig Blake becomes involved with Santo and the gym crowd after simply walking into the Olympic Spa on a whim. The film screenplay constructs the story about Blake being involved with a real-estate firm attempting to buy the gym - probably to add more cohesion to the events of the movie.
The novel also features a very long and detailed account of a camping trip taken by Craig Blake, Joe Santo, Franklin Coates and Mary Tate, in which Blake ingests peyote
and has a powerful psychedelic experience. This was also left out of the film.
Near the end the novel, Santo begins a passionate relationship with country club socialite Zoe Miller, and they spend weeks in the Bahamas fishing for tarpon
, in a section of the book that is highly detailed. In the film, Santo and Zoe do become romantically involved, but only implicitly.
The final and perhaps most important difference between the film and the novel is that the film ends optimistically, with Blake deciding to "go into the gym business" with Joe Santo and leaving behind his old, unfulfilling life. In the original novel, after the Mr. Universe contest, Blake eventually loses touch with Santo, Mary Tate, and most of his other friends, and finds himself bleakly confronting a life that is no longer satisfying or exciting - having failed to cultivate the new identity that he had briefly grasped at during his time with Mary Tate, Santo and the rest of his carefree group. The book ends on a decidedly dreary and melancholy note, with Craig Blake once again lacking an identity and finding no purpose in life. Another difference omitted from the film version is the death of Mary Tate in the novel: she dies after breaking and falling through the second story plate glass window of the gym during a struggle with Thor.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
by director Bob Rafelson
Bob Rafelson
Robert "Bob" Rafelson is an Emmy Award winning American film director, writer and producer. He was an early member of the New Hollywood movement in the 1970s and is most famous for directing and co-writing the film Five Easy Pieces, starring Jack Nicholson, as well as being one of the creators of...
from a screenplay by Charles Gaines
Charles Gaines
Charles L. Gaines is an American writer and outdoorsman, notable for his works on fly fishing, his role in the development of paintball, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film of the same name.-Early...
(adapted from his 1972 novel of the same name). The story centers on a young Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, scion, played by Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
, who gets involved in a shady real-estate deal. In order to close the deal, he needs to buy a gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
building to complete a multi-parcel lot. When he visits the gym, however, he finds himself romantically interested in the receptionist (Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
) and drawn to the carefree lifestyle of the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n body builder
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
"Joe Santo" (Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
) who is training there for the Mr. Universe
Universe Championships
The Universe Championships are an annual bodybuilding event organised by the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association . It has a number of competitions: NABBA Amateur Mr. Universe, Miss Figure, and Miss Toned Figure....
competition.
Roger Callard, one of the top bodybuilders of that era, was quoted in a 1983 bodybuilding magazine regarding an event he experienced during the making of the film. “The director was screaming over his megaphone, ‘Please do not touch the bodybuilders!’ People were rushing us, even scratching us!”
Schwarzenegger won a Golden Globe for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture" for his portrayal of Joe Santo in Stay Hungry. Technically, it was not his debut role, since he had played Hercules (as "Arnold Strong") in the 1970 film Hercules in New York
Hercules in New York
Hercules in New York is a 1969 fantasy adventure film. It is known for being the first feature film to star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was about 22 years old when the film was produced...
and a hitman in Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's 1973 film The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye (film)
The Long Goodbye is a 1973 neo noir, directed by Robert Altman and based on Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Leigh Brackett, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Big Sleep in 1946...
. It was, however, the first time his voice had been heard on film as Hercules was dubbed and the hitman character was deaf and mute.
Plot
Craig Blake (Jeff BridgesJeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
) is a young Southern man born of a wealthy family, but left lonely and idle after his parents died in a plane crash. He is content to spend his time fishing, hunting and puttering around his large family mansion, inhabited only by himself and a butler (Scatman Crothers
Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980...
). Blake's "job" is a sinecure
Sinecure
A sinecure means an office that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...
working at a shady investment firm run by a slick con artist named Jabo (Joe Spinell
Joe Spinell
Joe Spinell was an American character actor, who appeared in numerous films in the 1970s and 1980s.-Biography:...
) and he does very little actual work. But since he has to have his name "on paper" somehow as an employee, he is asked to personally transact the purchasing of a small gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
that the real estate firm is buying in order to clear space for an office high-rise.
He initially approaches the gym representing himself as a businessman looking to buy it, and acts relatively impersonal with its staff, although he is strangely fascinated with the world he discovers there (reflecting the expansion of physical exercise to the mainstream which occurred in the 1970s). But Blake's primary social life is centered around the upscale country club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
he attends. The audience is introduced to the ritzy country club crowd, including the WASP
WAsP
WAsP is a PC program for predicting wind climates, wind resources, and power productions from wind turbines and wind farms. The predictions are based on wind data measured at stations in the same region. The program includes a complex terrain flow model, a roughness change model, and a model for...
-y Lester (Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
) and the roguish rake Halsey (John David Carson
John David Carson
John David Carson was an American actor. He was born in North Hollywood, California. Carson began his career at a young age, acting in television advertisements, and later doing cartoon voice-acting for Hanna-Barbera. He attended Los Angeles Valley College where he played a lead role in their 1969...
). Blake spends his time at this club with his friends playing tennis and shooting poker dice
Poker dice
Poker dice are dice which, instead of having number pips, have representations of playing cards upon them. Poker dice have six sides, one each of an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten and nine, and are used to form a poker hand....
, and flirting with the upper-class women of all ages - one of whom asks Blake to find an "authentic" musical guest for an upcoming party at the club.
As Blake moves forward with his business deal, he falls in love with the gym after visiting it several times - he is immediately taken by the pretty receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
) and the free-spirited, friendly bodybuilder Joe Santo (Schwarzenegger), who aspires to win the Mr. Universe
Universe Championships
The Universe Championships are an annual bodybuilding event organised by the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association . It has a number of competitions: NABBA Amateur Mr. Universe, Miss Figure, and Miss Toned Figure....
title. He cannot bring himself to sell out his newfound friends at the gym for the sake of his job, and so he evades the inquiries of his friend and coworker Hal Foss as to his progress in the purchasing deal. All the while, he grows closer to Mary Tate and Joe Santo - who initially appear to be a couple. However, Mary Tate latches onto Craig romantically - and Santo gives Craig his blessing for this unorthodox relationship, claiming that he needs to keep himself challenged both in the gym and in his romantic life in order to succeed.
Mary Tate and Craig begin a passionate and exciting relationship. But trouble erupts when he tries to integrate Mary Tate into his country-club scene. This tension comes to a head at a party at the country club, which features Joe Santo as a musical guest, performing bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
songs on the violin with a small country group. Craig, with Mary Tate as his guest (dressed inappropriately in a garish and revealing pink dress), is enthusiastic about Joe Santo's upcoming musical performance for the night. But Craig's friends, particularly Halsey, mock Santo as a "freak" and an outcast. When Halsey suggest that Santo disrobe and show the crowd his "tits," Craig throws a glass of Scotch in his face and tells Halsey that Santo could "crush him like an eggshell." A fight nearly breaks out between the two, but is broken up. Meanwhile a bitter Halsey and his friend Packman formulate a plan to embarrass Santo.
When Santo's musical act is finally put on stage, the crowd seems enthusiastic about the music, though the hostess of the party dismisses it as a "racket." However, Halsey and Packman drunkenly bellow at Santo and heckle the band. Santo notices it, but stoically continues playing. However, when Halsey screams "let's hear it for Muscle Beach
Muscle Beach
Muscle Beach refers to either Muscle Beach Venice, an area in Venice, California, on Ocean Front Walk two blocks north of Venice Boulevard or to Original Muscle Beach, two miles north of Venice, south of the Santa Monica Pier...
symphony orchestra!" Santo is unable to continue playing, puts down his violin and leaves the party. Meanwhile a frustrated Craig tries to convince Mary Tate to see him for who he really is, and not for his snobbish friends and ritzy surroundings.
The Mr. Universe contest is approaching fast and Santo is training hard. But Jabo, owner of the shady real estate firm, attempts to bribe the owner of the gym, Thor Eriksen, when he realizes that Blake will not purchase the building as he was supposed to. He plies Eriksen and his assistant Newton with drugs, booze and hookers, and on the day of the contest, they are busy with acts of debauchery as Santo is readying to take the stage - hoping to beat his rival Dougie Stewart (fellow bodybuilder Ken Waller
Ken Waller
Ken Waller is an American former bodybuilder featured in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Waller also won the 1975 International Federation of Bodybuilders Mr. Universe contest in Pretoria, South Africa...
in a memorable cameo). While Thor is drunk and distracted with the prostitutes, Newton secretly stashes the prize money inside his handbag, and then leaves the gym with the prostitutes when they are finished - stealing the money and fleeing. Meanwhile, Joe Santo and Dougie Stewart pose together on stage, to the theme song from the film 'Exodus' and the enthusiastic applause of the crowd.
Meanwhile Blake visits at the gym and engages in an intense physical fight, dodging weights and gym equipment thrown by the drunken and drug-crazed Eriksen. He finds Mary Tate at the gym, who had just moments earlier been assaulted by Eriksen in an amyl nitrite
Amyl nitrite
Amyl nitrite is the chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrito functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological properties are mainly due to the nitrite group...
fueled rage.
When the contestants at the Mr. Universe show discover that the prize money has been stolen, they run after Joe Santo, who himself is actually running to try to meet Mary Tate. The chase results in the wave of bodybuilders pouring out into the streets of Birmingham, to the amazed crowd of onlookers which sees them. The bodybuilders take advantage of this unexpected attention to put on an impromptu posing routine for the crowd, and the members of the crowd join in, imitating the athletes' poses and enjoying themselves - an embracing of the bodybuilding lifestyle by 'normal' people which arguably represents the real-life 1970s boom of personal fitness.
The film ends with Craig sarcastically deriding his former bosses at the real-estate firm, and deciding to go into the gym business with Joe Santo. A voice-over by his uncle Albert says, "you may not have been the Blake that we anticipated, but you are definitely Craig Blake - an identity that no one will dare challenge." Craig has finally "found himself" and discovered a true place in the sun, and true friendships, and he mocks his former boss Jabo with an exaggerated bodybuilding pose - acting as a final burning of the bridge between his old life and his new one. The final shot of the film shows Craig moving out of his family's mansion, passing on all of his old family memorabilia to his loyal butler, and leaving behind his old self once and for all - on the way to a new and exciting future.
Differences between film and novel
There are a great deal of differences between the novel and the film version of Stay Hungry. There are two primary differences between the film, and the original novel by Charles Gaines. One is that the character of Joe Santo (Schwarzenegger) was originally an American bodybuilder of French CanadianFrench Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
descent. The novel also features a great deal more back-story into Santo's past - he is shown to have served in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, received a Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
after being wounded by an enemy bullet, and then spent time as an international envoy promoting peace and brotherhood through music and traditional Menominee
Menominee
Some placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.The Menominee are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin. The Menominee, along with the Ho-Chunk, are the only tribes that are indigenous to what is now Wisconsin...
Indian folk songs. He also made handcrafted Native American jewelry which became very popular - even making a necklace for Mamie Eisenhower
Mamie Eisenhower
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961.-Early life:...
. After this, Santo spent time working on a drilling rig in the Berry Islands
Berry Islands
The Berry Islands are a chain of islands and a district of the Bahamas, covering about thirty square miles of the north western part of the Out Islands...
, and then was a professional fishing guide before becoming a bodybuilder.
The film omits all of this backstory and changes the character of Santo to an Austrian - to better fit with the real life personality of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In Stay Hungry, Santo is instead described as having been a competitive swimmer and a curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
champion - both of which Schwarzenegger actually was.
The other major difference is that the entire plot-line about the crooked real-estate firm, and the attempt to buy the gym to make room for a high-rise building, is not part of the original story at all. In the novel, Craig Blake becomes involved with Santo and the gym crowd after simply walking into the Olympic Spa on a whim. The film screenplay constructs the story about Blake being involved with a real-estate firm attempting to buy the gym - probably to add more cohesion to the events of the movie.
The novel also features a very long and detailed account of a camping trip taken by Craig Blake, Joe Santo, Franklin Coates and Mary Tate, in which Blake ingests peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
and has a powerful psychedelic experience. This was also left out of the film.
Near the end the novel, Santo begins a passionate relationship with country club socialite Zoe Miller, and they spend weeks in the Bahamas fishing for tarpon
Tarpon
Tarpons are large fish of the genus Megalops. There are two species of Megalops, one native to the Atlantic, and the other to the Indo-Pacific oceans.They are the only members of the family Megalopidae.- Species and habitats :...
, in a section of the book that is highly detailed. In the film, Santo and Zoe do become romantically involved, but only implicitly.
The final and perhaps most important difference between the film and the novel is that the film ends optimistically, with Blake deciding to "go into the gym business" with Joe Santo and leaving behind his old, unfulfilling life. In the original novel, after the Mr. Universe contest, Blake eventually loses touch with Santo, Mary Tate, and most of his other friends, and finds himself bleakly confronting a life that is no longer satisfying or exciting - having failed to cultivate the new identity that he had briefly grasped at during his time with Mary Tate, Santo and the rest of his carefree group. The book ends on a decidedly dreary and melancholy note, with Craig Blake once again lacking an identity and finding no purpose in life. Another difference omitted from the film version is the death of Mary Tate in the novel: she dies after breaking and falling through the second story plate glass window of the gym during a struggle with Thor.