When We Were Kings
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Movie Reviews of When We Were Kings
Movie Review: "When We Were Kings" is Award Winning Boxing Documentary
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone who does not know the story that led up to this fight, here it is: In 1964, the mouthy impetuous Cassius Clay (soon to become Muhammad Ali) a 10 to 1 underdog, defeats the supposedly undefeatable Sonny Liston to become heavyweight boxing champion at just 22 years old. Clay used his unbelievable speed to pepper Liston into quitting on his stool after the 6th round. In 1967, Ali is stripped of his title for refusing to be drafted in the Vietnam War. Ali is reinstated in 1970 after a 3 and 1/2 year lay-off during his physical prime. Ali, now 29 years old, must fight Joe Frazier (who is in his physical prime at 27) to regain his crown. The two meet in Madison Square Garden in the "Fight of the Century", this first time two undefeated champions meet for the title. Ali loses to Frazier in 15 grueling rounds and it appears his chance to regain the title is history. In 1972, Ali is defeated by a relative unknown, Kenny Norton, in a 15-round decision that sees Norton break Ali's jaw. It appears that Ali is finished. In 1973, Frazier loses the title to the young, powerful, Sonny Liston-like slugger, George Foreman. Foreman bounces Frazier around in the ring like a rubber ball, knocking him down 7 times before the fight is ended. After easily KO'ing the imposing Kenny Norton in one round, Foreman is seen as undefeatable, just as Sonny Liston was in 1964.
Now it's 1974, Muhammed Ali is 32 and thought to be well past his prime by the press and boxing world. Even his handlers feel Ali cannot beat Foreman and they fear Ali will be hurt badly by Foreman. Foreman is ten years younger and undefeated Heavyweight champion of the world, a title he appears to own for the next decade or more. Fight Promoter Don King offers both fighters a record 5 million dollars apiece to fight. King finds a financial backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire and the fight is set. Ali nick-names the fight the "Rumble in the Jungle" and looks forward to fighting Foreman in his ancestral "homeland" of Africa.
The documentary shows all the prefight shennanigans in detail, which builds to the actual fight night. In the moments leading up to the fight, while Ali and his corner men are in the tunnel waiting to emerge to the ring, Ali senses the dour, almost funeral-like mood, and chastises his group for not believing in his ability to beat Foreman. He leads his group forward to meet Foreman, with Ali the only one convinced that he can win. The fight is terrific. Ali plans to dance and move around the relatively slow and immovable Foreman, peppering him with jabs and right crosses much like he did to Liston 10 years earlier. But Ali expends so much energy trying to avoid the KO punching Foreman that he knows he cannot keep it up over 15 rounds, so he decides on the spur of the momment to lay on the ropes and let Foreman hit him in hopes of tiring Big George and later decisioning him. Foreman, seeing Ali on the ropes right where he wants him, wades in and begins pounding on the stationary Ali. Ali proves difficult to hit even though he is not moving! Round after exhausting round, Foreman pounds Ali to the body, and then throws haymakers to the head hoping to overwhelm Ali and knock him out. But Ali survives the best of what George can deliver and in the 8th round he comes off the ropes and tags Foreman with a series of rights and lefts that drops George to the canvas! A stunned Foreman is counted out by Zach Clayton the referee and ALi is once again the champion!
After the fight, Ali holds a conference where he angrily chastises the press for writing him off as a fighter. Ali then proceeds in a monsoon rainstorm to his headquarters in the dead of night, himself stunned by the Africans who line the street in the downpour hoping for a glimpse at the new champion.
It is all very well done and is a must for any serious boxing fan. I highly recommend it.
konedog
Movie Review: A great documentary about an epic battle
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: A LITTLE LESS OF NORMAN MAILER AND MORE OF BB KING WOULD GO A LONG WAY
Summary: 5 Stars
but the final shot of Mr. Ali standing and restraining himself from throwing one more punch, but letting George fall gracefully flat to the ground is ballet, is pure art, the crowning of his showmanship, after so many rounds of Mr. Ali receiving George's hardest body blows, tiring George out.
This is the early mean George Foreman, years before his rebirth as all America's grand-uncle selling grilling machines and such with a wide great grinning grin and a bald shaven head. This is long before the Mr. Nice Guy Foreman. This is young Bad George, who never smiled through his fuzzy black beard jutting under his blue jean buttoned beret.
Mr. Ali stares early in the fight realizing the punishment he needs to endure in order to win, playing rope a dope for many rounds, and encouraging George to give it all he has, despite the pain and damage Mr. Ali receives, which may have contributed to his current physically debilitated condition. But here we see Mr. Ali out jogging, trim and firing off into the camera a volley of serious lightening fast punches that would knock out any man.
And then the final moment of grace and beauty as George falls. Chilling and heroic and never to be repeated.
There is far too much of the white American aged pretentious writers here. Something more than a few seconds of the greatest concert ever (BB KING AND JAMES BROWN AND THE SPINNERS IN THEIR PRIME, PLUS COOKING HOT LOCAL AFRICAN ACTS) would satisfy. Please dedicate all the time granted to Mailer's wheezing to some Afro-pop beat! Oh, my my. My, oh my.
Please get this DVD to see Mr. Ali "past his prime" (!) and also do most definitely get his recent essential Soul of the Butterfly reflections of life's journey, written with his daughter, and beautifully recorded on audio-book by Mr. Ossie Davis.
You will not be disappointed, but enlivened to live on, proud there has been a Muhammed Ali. Learn from him.
Remember one thing. Muhammed Ali lost his best years because of US government repression which prevented him from exercising his craft at the height of his powers. Anyone here who dare say Mr. Ali is "over-rated" as said below must recognize we were not permitted to see him in his prime. Anything he did later is a dim reflection of what he would have been without the US government's political persecution based on race, religion and beliefs. And what he has done and become since is beyond all comprehension.
Go back, sir, and listen to Soul of the Butterfly, his personal reflections, which rings with patriarchal power, a humble pride and compassionate, generous humanity. Read Hauser's His Life and Times for a true and full perspective of the total man. And then dare lie to yourself that he was or is over-rated.
Movie Review: 22 Years of editing, crafting and officiating led to one of the greatest documentaries of all time
Summary: 5 Stars
If you didn't already know, `When We Were Kings' pivots around the build-up of the prolific duel between George Foreman and then-World boxing champion Muhammad Ali - astutely named Rumble in the Jungle. Shot originally in the early `70s, this documentary has over 500 different shots of Zaire, Ali's charades and training, fans, musicians, choreography, meetings, schedules, plans, anecdotes from critics and officials, tours and countless more.
The documentary's pace is superb. We see a slight build-up and anticipation of both fighters and fans. We also see the grit of Zaire, its core and people. What the documentary also does is acknowledge authoritative figures such as the president of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko and his techniques. There are also establishment shots of musicians, ranging from the iconic Blues artist B.B King to the `King of Soul' James Brown.
This is one of the few documentaries that rely on archive footage to prove a point. Every scene and pixel was shot in real-time by producer/director Leon Gast in 1974. Every shot was evidential and decisive to his artistic integrity. I like the way the tribal music overlaps some of the crucial scenes such as the conversations Don King for a gritty and murky effect. Don Gast brilliantly uses the voices of most of the trainers and critics attained in the interviews to give some of the scenes the narration it needs.
The narrative is constructed by the remarkable scenes captured. Usually, you'll never see the attitude of a fighter before the fight. Here, we see the reactions, mind-set, commitments, anticipation, regimes and wits two fighters had before embarking on one of the greatest boxing matches of the 20th Century - as well as the clever feats Don King had to go through to make his reverie promoting match-up work in Zaire.
With the help of archive footage shot 22 years before its awaited release, `When We Were Kings' manages to garner a spot in the 50 Greatest Documentaries list - according to Hollywood Reporter. With a charismatic legendary boxer, a famous promoter, a shrewd fighter, a legendary director (Spike Lee), iconic musicians, a tremendous supporting cast, a beautifully shot match along with an Oscar under its proverbial belt, `When We Were Kings' is a must see for anybody who's never even heard of the `Rumble in the Jungle'.
Movie Review: This is the one to see, about Muhammad Ali!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a little ol' white girl, about 10 or 11, I listened to a "fight" on the radio one night. How I came to be interested in it is beyond me, but I remember being alone in the house. As I sat there listening, the commentator became so excited describing the action that I couldn't help but get caught up in the moment. And then he won! All the sudden I hear, "I Am The Greatest! I Am The Greatest!" I could hear the pandemonium in the background, but his voice rang out, proud and sassy, over and above it. Cassius Clay was the new Heavyweight Champion! Whatever that is. Hey - I wasn't that old! Only later did I realize how momentous this bout was in the annals of sports.Flash forward 40 years. I would hear about the latest news of Muhammad Ali on occasion and I never missed an opportunity to watch him on TV. He was so brash and funny in the way he talked, but so formidable when he stepped into the ring. I would always think back to that night. The sport of boxing is so far removed from my life that when I speak of him, my admiration and opinions are generally dismissed as "something this woman could know nothing about". But you see, they're wrong. Ali reaches through to those you would least expect. That is the magic of his spirit. But try to explain that to somebody. When I saw this film the first time I smiled all the way through it. I knew I had the means to finally communicate the joy in discovering this athlete's allure - the humor, the boldness, the grace and the strength. I recommend this film to all my friends and family or to anyone I talk to about Muhammad Ali. It captures a moment in history. There's music and mayhem and so much energy - it feels like you're there! The interviews and commentary of those who reminisce on the event adds depth to the story of how it all transpired. The momentum builds as the fight begins with Foreman and the magnitude of their efforts is astounding. If you've never seen him box or heard him pontificate - as only he can - you are in for a treat! Bask in the glory of this film. And thank God we have it for posterity.