gcd70 Inspiring, amazing true story of Ali's comeback/retirement fight against George Foreman. Leon Gast, with help from Taylor Hackford, has taken the times, the black cause, and two giants of boxing and fashioned a fascinating narrative and an insightful culture study of a nation and its people. It's true the material is to die for, but Gast knew just what to do with it.I am no boxing fan, and consider the sport uncultured and physically dangerous, yet I was glued to this doco from start to finish. Especially insightful were the comments from the then fight writers, including Norman Mailer.Saturday, June 26, 1999 - Video

rdowb Muhammad Ali is arguably the greatest sports figure of all time. He is remembered for his athletic achievement, political stances, and larger than life personality. Yet we never knew him. Michael Mann made a decent movie called Ali a few years ago. He tried his best to draw a portrait of an elusive human being. But what he was trying to achieve had already been done before with When We Were Kings.When We Were Kings is a phenomenal documentary. In my opinion, the prototype for all documentaries. Taking place in and around perhaps the best boxing match of all time, the Rumble In The Jungle, in which Ali faced George Foreman(of grill fame...). Ali is shown as a man brimming with confidence, yet his constant boasting becomes a coat of armor that protects him from his own self-doubt. Yet he endears himself to the African people who embrace him like he's one of their own. In these moments Ali appears both invincible and mortal.There are some cool musical numbers by James Brown and B.B King as well as appearances by Spike Lee, Don King, and the controversial president of Zahire at the time, Mobutu Sese Seko. These appearances add depth to the amazing events of the film.If you love documentaries, sports, or character stories, When We Were Kings is among the class of each.

sherbetsaucers Some people see boxing as nothing more than two people standing in a big square that for some reason is called a ring, hitting each other very hard until one of them falls over bleeding onto the floor. Others see it as a tough, graceful sport that can be elevated to an art form. If any one person has ever exemplified the idea of boxing as an art, surely it is Muhammad Ali.Mostly shot in 1974, When We Were Kings follows the circus that was the famous 'Rumble In The Jungle', the fight between Ali and George Foreman that took place in Zaire – now the Democratic Republic of the Congo - in 1974. However to say that this movie is about that match is to do it an injustice. Really this is a movie about Ali himself, and what the man has come to represent.The title actually refers to the time when black people were kings of Africa, yet it is interesting to note that the only reason the fight took place in Zaire was the massive amount of money offered. Indeed Zaire, under the rule of Presedent Mobutu, was hardly a place where the common person thrived. Much is made of President Mobutu. He is described as a 'closet sadist', and there is discussion of detention rooms and prisons for thousands for people under the stadium the fight was take place in! The most frightening accusation aimed at the president is the idea that he rounded up all of the dangerous, high ranking criminals in the country, randomly killed 100 of them and released the others, just to ensure that, while the eyes of the world were on Zaire, there would be no criminal trouble. Whether or not that is true, there certainly was little trouble at all.In 1967 Ali lost the world title because he had refused to go to Viet Nam, famously saying 'no Vietnamese ever called me Ni**er', but began a comeback in 1970. In 1971 he had a shot at the title but lost to Joe Frazier. This is very important to remember as in 1974 Ali was fighting Foreman, a person who obliterated Frazier in a couple of rounds. Nobody really thought Ali was going to win this fight, a fact made clear by the documentary. Nobody, from his training staff to the commentators, believed that the former champion could stop 'Big George', no one except the people of Zaire. Everywhere Ali went there were cheers of 'Ali, Bomaye!', which means 'Ali, kill him!' I found it quite interesting when in one interview Foreman says that he wouldn't want people shouting that - a chant encouraged by Ali - but rather that the people would shout 'George Foreman loves Africa!' However in the eyes of the people of Zaire, Foreman represented America, while Ali was their champion.As well as interviews with the fighters and those associated with them there is also a lot of coverage of the massive amount of hype that went along with the match. Don King ensured that this fight was massive, and the hype that surrounded the fight, with artists such as James Brown and B.B. King performing bought anticipation to a fever pitch. Called the 'Black Woodstock' music festival, I found the emphasis the film placed on these artists and what they did just as compelling as the information about Ali.Of course there is also the fight. I must say that this was the one point of the documentary that worried me. It depicted Ali as taking a huge amount of damage during the match, on his last legs before taking the fight to Foreman. I feel that this was simply for dramatic effect. Even during the fight it was noted that Foreman was tiring himself out and Ali's tactics seemed obvious to everyone except his opponent in the ring. But this small criticism cannot overshadow what an amazing feat it was for Ali to floor Foreman in the eighth round. The final punch Ali lands is amazing, as is his performance throughout the fight.This film may not appeal to people who find boxing offensive, yet in truth the fight itself is not the main interest. Here we see people talking abut a man who during a time of massive social upheaval was a leader for his people. As Spike Lee says towards the end of the movie 'These kids, they are missing a whole lot if they don't know the legacy of Muhhamad Ali because no matter what era you live in you see very few true heroes'.

vincent-27 This is a pretty documentary of the legendary fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974. Apparently a lot of this footage has been lost for over 20 years and there is some good stuff, good performances by James Brown and of course a lot of Ali talking his jive and poetry, and some of it is pretty good "yesterday I hospitalized a brick, i'm so mean I make medicine sick". Ali is mesmerizing, I was born in 1970 so I missed the whole Ali phenom, he was just a vague idea of somebody important, like Evel Knievel and Farah Fawcett. Lately I've become very interested in this guy, I guess because the legend has passed and Ali is more of a distant memory, the hype has died down and you can study the real man. I think a lot of the sports writers at the time had a romanticized view of boxing, it is not a pleasant sport, it's too men beating the hell out of each other. Now there is some skill involved and Ali proved that you can win brains and will power as well as brawn, but they seemed almost amazed that a black man would stand up and say he was the greatest, and when he said that you knew he meant of EVERYBODY, black or white. I think that's what annoyed them the most, he wasn't the quiet humble lap dog they wanted from a black athlete who just did his job, thanked everyone and shut the hell up.Sorry, my reviews tend to wander. Ali truly showed has smart he was and Foreman was oblivious to how he was being played. Ali realized during his build up to the Norton fight that having a psychological edge was as important as a physical one. Telling everyone you're the greatest has two effects, if builds yourself up and it frustrates your opponent. It's one thing to see a man boast that he's a scientist, it's another thing to see him actually deliver on the promise, and it is a wondrous thing to behold. Also, the fact that monsoon rains held off until 20 minutes after the fight finished, what a story! My major complaint with this film is that there a lot of Norman Mailer telling slightly exaggerated tales of the fight and Plimpton pompous pontificating (two men who probably never got into a fight their whole lives) but very little of the actual fight. Did they lose some footage? I would have liked to have seen some more rounds of Ali getting pounded on. I'm amazed he could take that punishment, considering what Foreman did to the punching bag. But in the end he fell right into Ali's trap and the fight ended in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.