Sardinian-born Franco Columbu is a long-time work-out buddy and friend of
Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1968, they came to American together.
Joe Weider, my first boss in L.A., paid for their shared apartment while they were struggling.
But soon Arnold commenced a movie career, and he introduced Franco into some of the first movies to bring bodybuilding to a mainstream audience:
Stay Hungry (1976),
Pumping Iron (1977), and
The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980), which wasn't about
that kind of hustler.
Their closeness elicited the usual gay rumors, which neither seemed to mind.
When Arnold became a star, he continued to help out his pal, giving him screen time in
Conan the Barbarian (1982),
The Terminator (1984), and
Running Man (1987).
In the 1990s Franco, still in top shape, produced a series of man-mountain actioners set in Sardinia:
Desperate Crimes (1993),
Taken Alive (1995),
Doublecross on Costa's Island (1997).
Like most movies in the man-mountain genre, there was usually a girl, but the buddy-bonding took precedence.
Beretta's Island (1994) was about a retired Interpol agent trying to find out who murdered his friend.
Ancient Warriors (2003) paired Franco with Daniel Baldwin as special agent buddies eliciting supernatural assistance to defeat a crime lord in Sardinia.
In 2011 Franco starred in the Italian movie
La terra dei sogni (Dreamland), about boxer Frank Graziani (Franco), who mentors the young James De Cristoforo (Ivano De Cristoforo). I haven't seen it, but according to the Italian synopsis, there are "stunning scenes" in which the relationship between the two becomes "vivid and full of emotions."
Sounds good.
