His debut as a 22-year-old was so terrible that he had to be completely dubbed

Today, Arnold Schwarzenegger is world famous. 54 years ago, things were different. Long before he made his breakthrough with Conan the Barbarian and laid the foundation for an extraordinary action career, the future Terminator made his acting debut in the fantasy disaster Hercules in New York. And it went completely wrong.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was dubbed for his first film role because nobody understood him

At least as legendary as Schwarzenegger’s upper arms is the Austrian’s heavily accented English, which has become his trademark over the years. However, that wasn’t always the case.

At the tender age of 22, the bodybuilder and then bricklayer (!) landed the leading role in the fantasy B-movie Hercules in New York – not under the name Arnold Schwarzenegger, but as Arnold Strong “Mr. Universe”In it, he plays Hercules, the son of the gods, who leaves behind his boring life on Olympus to embark on an exciting adventure on Earth in New York.

However, the production studio had concerns about his pronounced and sometimes incomprehensible accent and the wooden acting of the then beginner. And so Arnold’s dialogue passages were written for the theatrical release in 1970 by another person completely dubbed and synchronized.

Later publications restored the original version including Arnie’s legendary Styrian English. You can see both versions in comparison in this video:

With an IMDB rating of 3.3 points, Hercules in New York is the worst-rated entry in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s filmography – just behind Batman & Robin with 3.8 points. In the Moviepilot community, the film received a more merciful average rating of 4 points.

Today, fantasy trash is a cult: Arnold Schwarzenegger finds his feature film debut absolutely ridiculous

Schwarzenegger’s terrible acting in Hercules in New York certainly contributed to the film achieving a certain cult status as an entertaining trash gem. But how does the action star himself feel about his embarrassing debut? He takes it with humor.

During a 2017 interview with Business Insider, Schwarzenegger explained that he rewatched many of his films years later because of his children. Hercules in New York was one of them:

In the movie my name was “Arnold Strong”. I was really stupid. At some point I saw it again because my children were watching it. It was so stupid. In one scene I’m wrestling a bear in Central Park, but you can see it’s a guy in a coat. […] I just had to watch it because it was so ridiculous.

Schwarzenegger also revealed that he regularly makes fun of his first film – because it is simply unbelievable. If you want to plan Hercules in New York for your next movie night, you have several free streaming options.

Not only on Amazon: Where you can stream Hercules in New York

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s is currently available to stream. And you don’t even need a subscription. Because you can watch Hercules in New York both on the Amazon service Freevee as well as on Rakuten TV and Pluto TV watch completely free of charge.

However, the film is only available in the German dubbed version on Amazon’s Freevee. If you want to enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger’s glorious accent, you can stream Hercules in New York in the original English language for free on Plex and Rakuten TV.

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