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Don't Believe the Hype

Best movie ever!

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

They say that there are only a handful of characters who are instantly recognizable the world over; they mention characters like Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan and Superman- but Holmes and Lord Greystoke and Kal-El are all make-believe. Muhammad Ali wasn't. Last night, around Midnight, I heard the news that he'd Moved On. For me, Muhammad Ali filled a gaping void in my life; he was a Role Model I could look up to (unlike my alcoholic father)- a man who Practiced what he Preached. Along with the likes of Charlton Heston and Bruce Lee and writers like Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison and dozens of comic book writers and artists, Muhammad Ali taught me what it was to be a Man. He brought the posturing of professional wrestling to the all-too-real world of professional Boxing and made it work. He even fought and beat The Man of Steel, Superman, in an illustrated story rendered by none other than Neal Adams himself (who I came to think of as "the Muhammad Ali of comics"). Something VITAL has been Lost in this World, and we're never going to see his Like again. I remember seeing an interview with Ali, who was watching footage of himself as a young man: in the clips, he was announcing his Greatness to the World at the top of his lungs- and backing up his braggadocio against some of the most dangerous fighters in Heavyweight Boxing history (surely no God ever faced such Monsters!). "I sure was somethin', wasn't I?" he mused. Indeed.

If such an event as the Foreman/Ali fight occurred today, this film would probably not be such a big deal. That is because we would have pretty much round the clock cable coverage of the event courtesy ESPN. However, given that this fight occurred in 1974, this is the closest thing you are going to get to the kind of coverage you would see if that event was held today. In spite of the reversal of fortune that this fight gave to both Foreman and Ali's careers, this film really does not focus on either one of these individual fighters that much. Instead, it gives you a real feel for the excitement surrounding the fight overall, with significant commentary by George Plimpton and Norman Mailer, who were both there to cover the event.Of course there are segments on Foreman and Ali, and at the end, after the segment on the fight itself, there is basically a tribute to Ali both through his words and then through a series of still shots showing highlights of his life and career. However, I also learned quite a bit about Don King, the guy who made the fight happen, and how this event helped him "break out of the pack" when it came to managing fights and fighters. However, there is no romanticizing of the man. They mention both his strong points - his incredible intellect and that he always seemed to have a quotation from Shakespeare for ever occasion - and his weaknesses, mainly that he was "amoral in his handling of the individual fighters' careers". These are the film's words, not mine. Interviews and footage of the fighters and their staff preparing both physically and mentally for the big "rumble in the jungle" are skillfully interspersed with footage of the sportswriters of the 70's marking up copy and working old-fashioned teletypes back in the age before computers were common, along with film of the inhabitants of Zaire going about their daily life often balancing huge baskets on their heads, and also shots of the live entertainment going on including some great footage of B.B. King and James Brown. Also included is a little bit of explanation as to why the people of Zaire found Ali so endearing versus George Foreman. They said they found Ali to come across as "a real person". Apparently the fact that Foreman was so monosyllabic most of the time did not help his image overseas.The footage of the fight itself is very good considering it was shot in 1974. Mailer and Plimpton do a great job of explaining everything that is going on at each phase of the fight, including trying to get inside Ali's head as to what he might have been thinking as he employed first one strategy and then another against his mountain of an opponent.The film does mention that losing to Ali threw Foreman into a two year depression, and when he emerged he reinvented himself to the point that, as Norman Mailer says in the film, "you would be hard pressed to find someone more affable than George Foreman is today." The postscript on Ali is interesting too. Mailer mentions that after this fight, Ali went on to fight 22 times, and all of these additional fights ruined his health. Mailer mentions that it is often said that you wind up destroying the thing you love, but in Ali's case it was the thing he loved that ultimately destroyed him, or at least his physical health.This is a very good and complete portrait of a unique sports event and the very interesting people involved. You don't have to be a boxing fan to enjoy it. If you enjoy a good tale about the triumph of an underdog, the intersection of two very different cultures, and anecdotes about some of the more interesting sports figures of the 20th century, you'll like this film. I highly recommend it.

The fight between Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Clay and George Foreman in Zaire. The fight was nicknamed the rumble in the jungle. The documentary follows Ali and Foreman. It also has insight from writers and witnesses, Norman Mailer and George Plimpton, and African American film director, Spike Lee, who later directed the film, "Ali." This documentary is a rare treasure that captures history, culture, and relationships. Ali is the underdog in the ring against Foreman on October 30, 1974. The outcome is remarkable as is the story behind both fighters. Ali is proud of being an African American, honest, opinionated, and vocal about civil rights in America and in Africa. He was proud to see Africans who flew, lived, and governed their own country. Sadly, Ali isn't well with Parkinsons. The disease has crippled his voice but not his message in recent years. The documentary is historical for so many reasons.

Probably what makes "When We Were Kings" especially effective is the opening: Muhammad Ali, explaining his plan to participate in a boxing match in Zaire, declares "Africa is the home of the black man." I had actually never heard of the Rumble in the Jungle before this documentary came out, but one need only watch it to see just how great Ali was (and always will be). As for the possibility that it meanders too much with the interviews, I say that it's good to get different people's insights into what an important part of our national heritage Ali is.So anyway, this is a documentary that I wholeheartedly recommend. Also featuring George Foreman (happy birthday, George!), James Brown (RIP), Spike Lee, B.B. King and Mobutu Sese Seko in footage.