Muhammad Ali Movies

Presented in conjunction with the landmark "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between famed pugilists Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, Zaire '74 was a three-day music festival in Kinshasa that was organized by South African musician Hugh Masekela and American record producer Stewart Levine, and featured performances by such famed musicians as James Brown, Bill Withers, and B.B. King, among others. Many of the American musicians performing at Zaire '74 had been emboldened by the American Civil Rights movement, and saw their journey to Africa as a unique opportunity not just to perform for a new set of enthusiastic fans, but to explore their roots as well. However, while the forward-thinking promoters of Zaire '74 hired a talented team of documentary filmmakers to capture everything from the setup to the performances to everyday life in Kinshasa, the project ran into trouble when the Liberian investment group that financed the festival and film ran into some rather serious legal disputes. For the next three decades, the remarkable footage would sit untouched and unedited -- a valuable sociohistorical artifact seemingly forgotten, and left to succumb to the ravages of time. Later, in 1996, the rights were settled in order to help facilitate the completion of When We Were Kings, an Academy Award-winning documentary focusing on the very same Ali/Foreman match that took place alongside the Zaire '74 music festival. Recognizing the need to assemble the neglected Zaire '74 footage while it was still possible, When We Were Kings editor Jeffrey Levy-Hinte made it his own personal mission to see the long gestating project through to completion. The result is not simply a concert film featuring some of the most popular African and American musicians of the era, but also a pure cinéma vérité glimpse into a time when the musical crossover between the two nations was just beginning to emerge. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

While some athletes only have an impact on the world of sports, the legacies of others can extend far beyond their profession to have a lasting impact on all of society. In this original ESPN special, filmmakers examine precisely how boxing great Muhammad Ali's success transcended the boxing ring at a defining point in American history. In addition to the illuminating documentary, Ali's 1960 Olympic Gold Medal bout against Poland's Sbigneiw Pietrzykowski and 1975 match against Joe Frazier are also included in their entirety. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Fidel Castro is one of the world's best known and most recognizable political leaders, but he is also among the most mysterious. While Castro became a household name after overthrowing the rule of Fulgenico Batista and became the head of Cuba's new socialist government, little is known of his private life or the man behind the façade of his shaggy beard and omnipresent cigar. Fidel is a documentary by filmmaker Estela Bravo, who combines vintage newsreel footage with exclusive recent interviews which offer an insight into both Castro the leader, struggling to face the political and economic realities of the post-Soviet global environment, and Castro the man, as he tours his childhood home, goes swimming, and visits with his friends. Fidel also includes interviews with people who know or have met Castro, including Nelson Mandela, Muhammed Ali, Harry Belafonte, Alice Walker, Ted Turner, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Impoverished 11-year-old Tim (Christ Marquette) takes up the sport of boxing to get even with the bullies in his life--specifically, his brother Steven (J. Evan Bonifant) and his uncle Frank (Richard Burgi). Anxious to prove to Tim that there are better reasons to become a boxer, angel Rafael (Alexis Cruz) determines that this life lesson can only be provided by someone who has experienced first-hand a child's struggle for survival. The man needed for this assignment is man found: Muhammad Ali, ingratiatingly playing "himself." Though Ali is effective enough, it requires a near-tragedy for Tim to finally come to terms with his inner demons...and for his thoughtless family to see the error of their ways. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Boxing's Best: Muhammad Ali profiles the career of the fighter who was famously called "The Greatest," from his Olympic gold medal victory to his string of three heavyweight championship titles. Outlining his biography and fighting life, the film features interviews with Ali's longtime trainer Angelo Dundee and others who knew him well. Fight highlights show Ali versus Archie Moore, Cleveland Williams, Zora Folley, Joe Frazier, and more. ~ Betsy Boyd, Rovi

This undistinguished comedy about life in prison features caricatures of inmates and law enforcement officers, as well as prison guards, in attempts at slapstick action. After Duke Jarrett (Jeff Altman) is put into prison because he had sex with the wife of a government VIP, he discovers that life in the prison is out of control -- until a disciplinarian takes charge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Muhammad Ali made his TV-movie dramatic debut in this adaptation of Howard Fast's novel Freedom Road. Though some of the names are changed, the story concerns the true-life efforts of senators Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens to bring political order and racial equality to the post-Civil War South. Ali is cast as Gideon Jackson, an ex-slave who is elected to the U.S. senate during the Reconstruction Era. Interestingly enough, the character upon whom Jackson is based was depicted as the villain of D.W. Griffith's 1915 Civil War epic Birth of a Nation. Just as Griffth offered his own biased slant on the facts, so too did Fast rewrite history to promote his own political ideology. As for Muhammad Ali, his performance is no threat to Olivier, but he acts with sincerity and a commendable lack of bravado. Made for TV, Freedom Road represented the final film effort of Czechoslovakian director Jan Kadar. It was first telecast in two parts on October 29 and 30, 1979, an event that warranted a cover story in TV Guide. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ali the Fighter was made in 1975, when the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight was still fresh in everyone's memory banks. Thus, a generous portion of the documentary's running time is given over to graphic footage of that famous bout. Filmmaker William Greaves frames these scenes with a fine thumbnail sketch of Ali's rise to glory, beginning with his "Cassius Clay" days back in Louisville. Fortunately, the film was made long before Ali's profound physical and mental debilitations. Ali the Fighter contains little that is new, but serves as an acceptable introduction to those sports fans unfamiliar with its subject. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the 1960s and '70s, Mike Douglas was the host of one of America's most popular TV talk shows. In his 22 years on the air, Douglas was famous for presenting a dizzying variety of entertainers and newsmakers, and this video features 75 minutes of great moments from the show's heyday. Guests featured in this collection include boxing legend Muhammad Ali, actor Theodore Bikel, groundbreaking R&B group Sly and the Family Stone, and congressman Wayne L. Hays, then the focus of a political scandal when it was discovered he had been having an affair with a poorly qualified woman hired to head one of his committees. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In the 1960s and '70s, Mike Douglas was the host of one of America's most popular TV talk shows. In his 22 years on the air, Douglas was famous for presenting a dizzying variety of entertainers and newsmakers, and this video features 75 minutes of great moments from the show's heyday. Guests featured in this collection include boxing legend Muhammad Ali, sportscaster Howard Cosell, novelist and screenwriter Budd Schulberg, comic ventriloquist Willie Tyler with his wooden sidekick Lester, restraunteur Rocky Aoki, and vocalist Gerry Granger. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An NCR 315 computer was used for this impressive and extremely realistic film that used the finest state-of-the-art technology that was currently available to create a fantasy bout between legendary boxers Rocky Marciano and Muhammed Ali. Over 70 rounds of fights were used as blueprints for this computer-generated bout, the first ever such production. Both fighters participated in the production, as the dual likenesses were crucial to attain the final results. Rocky Marciano even lost 30 pounds preparing for the camera. From Marciano's high-top shoes of yesteryear, to the crowd noise and announcing of Guy LeBow, the feature looks like an actual championship bout between the two famed heavyweights. Without revealing the winner, the match went the distance and the victor won on points in a close contest, with neither fighter knowing the final outcome until the feature was shown. Released three weeks before Marciano's death in an airplane crash, The Super Fight still lives up to its title nearly 30 years later. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi