Pop culture fans tend to think of Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger as entertainment figures. In the ’80s in Poughkeepsie, New York, filmmaker Christopher Bell and his brothers saw them as heroes and turned bodybuilders. Like the Hulk, Mike and Mark Bell even turned to professional wrestling. A former employee of Venice’s famed Gold’s Gym, Chris doesn’t use anabolic steroids – he tried it once – but his heroes and brethren do, leading him to delve deeper into this increasingly common practice.
While Bell researched the health costs of juicing, he was most concerned with the ethical consequences associated with using performance-enhancing substances. Even though he’s non-judgmental, he stopped taking steroids because it felt dishonest. Of course, his burly brothers see it differently. In addition to his family, Bell has spoken to doctors, lawyers, members of Congress, fitness enthusiasts and professional athletes such as Olympic sprinters Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis and Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis.
He also includes footage of José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire testifying at federal and congressional grand jury hearings about steroid use in major leagues (influenced by Canseco’s Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant’ Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball The thrill of the release) becomes awesome). For the most part, Bell leaves no stone unturned, and the personal nature of his entertaining and insightful investigations lifts the bigger, stronger, faster side effects of being an American above your average synopsis. Recommended for athletes, sports fans, fitness freaks, and of course pop culture fans
