Daring, visually exciting and wildly enjoyable, Beefcake is Thom Fitzgerald's provocative follow-up to The Hanging Garden. With a seamless blending of fiction and documentary, he tells the story of Bob Mizer, the pioneering founder of the Athletic Model Guild (AMG), a company which produced still photographs (for muscle mags like "Adonis" and "Tomorrow''s Man") and short films, all of which extolled the beauty and chiseled physiques of men.

A fascinating look back in time at the beefcake and muscle magazines of the 1950s and `60s, highlighting the life of Bob Mizer, a photographer and magazine publisher in the days when gay erotica had to be disguised as fitness material. Includes dramatizations of Mizer`s life and the stories of some of the young men he photographed, plus interviews with such figures as fitness legend Jack LaLanne and actor/model Joe Dallesandro.

Additional material:

Original Athletic Model Guide loops: "Little Joe" starring Joe Dallesandro, "Ganymede and the Spacemen", "Kangaroo Court", "Strip Poker", "Talent for Sale", and "Blackie Preston as Narcissus".

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[Critics of the movie make these comments:

The film claims that Delia Mizer made the Posing Pouches for the Models to wear and that were sold by AMG to Customers. That is a lie. Delia Mizer never made a single Posing Pouch. Not one. She was born in 1882 and was almost 70 years old by 1950. Delia could not possibly at her age make hundreds or thousands of Posing Pouches. It was all she could do to take care of the Boarders in her Boarding House and make meals and do laundry.

The film shows Delia interacting and socializing with the Models. Delia Mizer only lived until 1964 and when she was alive no models were allowed to live at her home or the AMG compound. She was nothing like the Actress who played her in the film who was much younger. Delia was built like a Refrigerator and was not attractive and did not like to socialize with the Male Models at all.

The film claims that Bob Mizer's Brother did the books at AMG. Not true. Joe Mizer was special needs and was not able to complete the 8th Grade. He could not even sign his name. There is no way in the world he could do the books for anyone.

The film shows Bob Mizer taking Naked photos of his older Brother Joe when Bob was about 10 years old. Never happened. Joe Mizer was 16 years older than Bob Mizer and he was special needs. Even a 10 year old would not have tried to take naked photos of a special needs 26 year old Brother. Joe would have never allowed his Brother to take photos of his nude body. He was very shy and avoided anything like that. It never took place.]