The most misunderstood character in the history of cinema: Tony Perkis
On the 30th Anniversary of Heavyweights, we take a look at Tony Perkis. A man who had a vision to help the youth of America get healthy, but was sabotaged by the fat kids themselves.
As someone who has ran and completed seven marathons, fitness and a solid diet is a high priority for me. It can go a long way in helping someone live longer and healthier.
This is a fact that Tony Perkis understood when he bought Camp Hope, a fat camp for obese kids, from the Bushkin family. The Bushkin family ran a shit show of a camp where the kids were sneaking in snacks and junk food. They were actually gaining weight attending the camp.
Tony knew he had to do something to help save America’s youth.
So he bought a fat camp, and wanted to implement The Perkis System. A system that would teach these fat, out of shape kids some discipline and how they can push themselves beyond what they believe is possible.
His methods may have been a bit unconventional, but his heart was in the right place. Was he trying to sell his system by turning the camp into a giant infomercial? Yes, but that would mean he would be even more invested in seeing the kids succeed.
He wanted the best for these kids, and it’s obvious from his opening words. The youths weren’t coddelded though. Make no mistake, this was a no B.S. camp. If the kids slacked off, there as going to be consequences.
If these spoiled, lazy, out of shape kids didn’t like the camp, and didn’t have the disipline to finish the Perkis system, they should have quit and gone home. Instead they captured Tony and his staff, tortured the man, and caused him to go insane.
They also made extremley libelious, vial, and hidious, propaganda to defame the fitness icon. It may very well be the genesis of misinformation.
Was Tony the best man in the world? Of course not. Was The Perkis System a bit ahead of his time as far as its training techniques go? Maybe. One thing for cretain is that those kids would have left that camp in shape had they not been the gluttonous bunch of fatties they were determined to be.
Rumor has it that after the Camp Hope fiasco, Tony disappeard for a few years, changed his name to White Goodman, but still continued his fitness lifestyle by opening Globo Gym.