Powerful sport John Brzenk is better at armwrestling than Michael Jordan ever thought about being at basketball.
Anyone who was interested in armsport or at least the history of the movie “Without Strength” (1987) with Sylvester Stallone probably heard the name of John Brzenk. After all, this famous wrestler served as the prototype of Lincoln Hawke, the hero of the film, who won the tournament “Over the Top”. The tournament was organized by the Hollywood studio Warner Brothers, which shot material on it for the action movie of the same name. John himself appeared in the film in the episodic role of one of the athletes.
Amateur documentary "Pulling John" introduces the viewer to the world of armsport - its history, rules and bright representatives - a young and promising American Travis Bagent (The Rising Beast), our 3-time world champion Alexei Voevoda (The Russian Warrior), and of course, an outstanding veteran of wrestling - John Brzenk (The Legend). It is curious that after the events of the film, Voevoda managed to participate in several Olympic cycles in bobsled, became a 2-time Olympic champion, but at that time, and this is about 2004-2005, Voevoda was considered almost invincible Russian champion in armwrestling.
The picture is built on the principle of the famous “Pumping Iron” (1976) with Arnold Schwarzenegger; the viewer is shown the preparation for major competitions on behalf of 3 different heroes, and then they all come together in a tournament in which there can be only one winner. The heroes have different lives, different preparations, maybe different motivations, but they have one thing in common - a competitive spirit and a desire to win.
The name of the film can be translated as “Fighting with John”. Indeed, John Brzenk is a legend that almost every armwrestler dreams of fighting, regardless of the country of residence. He is like Schwarzenegger in bodybuilding or like Michael Jordan in basketball, he personifies this sport. But oddly enough, the multiple world champion actually leads a modest lifestyle; he works as an aircraft mechanic, relaxes with his family, sometimes races a bike, trains, travels the world. He does not give the impression of a star, but behaves decently, correctly and friendly towards both rivals and others. Just do not fight with him on his hands, because at the table he does not know mercy.
The film contains a number of interesting and rare photos and videos. Especially impressive is the training of our athlete. Bronck also looks really cool on his chopper. Yes, and Bagent is pleased with his outrage. But the real highlight of the film was the dynamic editing from various competitions. Armwrestling is shown in all its glory, so after watching the film, there should be no questions about the relevance, sportiness, entertainment and steepness of this sport.