When We Were Kings (1996)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Leon Gast

Release Date:

14 February 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History | Sport

Tagline:

The untold story of the Rumble in the Jungle

Plot:

A documentary of the 1974 heavyweight championship bout in Zaire between champion George Foreman and underdog challenger Muhammad Ali.

Plot Keywords:

Zaire | Underdog | Boxer | Boxing | Racism

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Muhammad Ali	...	Himself
George Foreman	...	Himself
Don King	...	Himself
James Brown	...	Himself
B.B. King	...	Himself
Mobutu Sese Seko	...	Himself (President of Zaire)
Spike Lee	...	Himself
Norman Mailer	...	Himself
George Plimpton	...	Himself
Thomas Hauser	...	Himself
Malick Bowens	...	Himself
Lloyd Price	...	Himself
Wilton Felder	...	Himself (sax, The Crusaders)
Wayne Henderson	...	Himself (trombone, The Crusaders)
Stix Hooper	...	Himself (drums, The Crusaders)

MPAA:

Rated PG for images of violence, brief nudity and some language.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Australia:PG | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Company:

Das Films

Trivia:

Though almost all of the footage in this documentary was shot by producer/director Leon Gast in 1974, one reason it took 22 years to complete was because the negative and rights to the film were entangled in civil suits involving the Liberians who financed the movie's making.

Quotes:

Malik Bowens: Muhammad Ali, he was like a sleeping elephant. You can do whatever you want around a sleeping elephant; whatever you want. But when he wakes up, he tramples everything.

Movie Connections:

References "HBO World Championship Boxing: The Rumble in the Jungle: Ali vs. Foreman" (1974)

Soundtrack:

Am Am Pondo

Good doc, not enough of the fight

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.