When We Were Kings
Director: Leon Gast (1996)
Cast: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King, James Brown
First off it took 23 years for this documentary to be produced due lawsuits over who owned the footage and shenanigans with promoter Don King, but it was worth the wait. What you see is two different men who have a lot in common. Both are Olympic gold medalist in boxing, Ali one his gold medal in 1960 and George Foreman won his in 1968. Ali was stripped of his title when he refused to fight in the Vietnam War. After his layoff Ali was able to fight again but getting his title back eluded him.
After winning his title, George Foreman was a sullen champion who rarely smiled and just wanted to go about his business. Ali enjoyed his time in Zaire and loved meeting the natives and their kids, who would run with him as he was training for the fight and play around with them in his free time. Ask for a foreman, he was quiet and sullen, did not do many interviews and kept to himself. When the fight began, Ali was the underdog. At age 32 all the experts felt that Foreman’s youth and power would be just too much to the older Ali. But Ali realized that he could take a punch, and if he could keep it going, he could tire out his younger opponent with what he called the rope a dope and he did it to perfection. Most boxing historians call the rumble in the jungle Ali’s greatest fight and ensured his legacy forever.
A funny thing happened over the next two decades. Ali would lose his title again and get it back again, but age and Parkinson's disease would be his downfall. During that time Forman would have an epiphany, would leave boxing for a while and devote his time to Jesus Christ. A few years later he returned to boxing a new, a little bit heavier fighter who fought for joy, not victory and in doing so showed the side of himself the world had never seen before, a happy man. People love this new George Foreman and so did sponsors. Foreman became one of the pitch men in the business.
Fun Facts:
His George Foreman Grills made him a billionaire.
Ali and Foreman were both on stage at the 1997 Academy Awards when it won the Oscar for Best feature documentary.
