Thrilla in Manila
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DVD details
Actor: Joe Frazier, Muhammad AliDirector: not specified
Brand: WEA DES Moines Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-06-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Color: Multi
Studio: Time Life Entertainment
Product features:
- Officially Licensed
- Highest Quality Recording
DVD Reviews of Thrilla in Manila
DVD Review: A great intro for those not familiar with the Ali-Frazier rivalry, but there aren't many big revelations for the rest of us
Summary: 3 Stars
He is the greatest fighter of all times next to me.
- Muhammad Ali on Joe Frazier immediately after the Thrilla in Manila
Although I had already seen a number of boxing matches on tv by that point, it was Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier III AKA the "Thrilla in Manila" and its buildup that made me a "hardcore" boxing fan. This was due to my admiration of Frazier's quiet "I let my actions speak for me" dignity and his ferocious, straight-ahead fighting style, which I identified with (like Joe, I was short, shorter than my schoolyard opponents and, consequently, tried to work my way inside during fistfights and then bang away in close - it would be a couple of years before I made my jab the centerpiece of my offense) and to my admiration of Ali's mental and physical toughness, his speed of hand and foot ('tho he had lost a "step" by that point), his confidence and brashness, and what I then viewed to be Ali's intelligence and wittiness*. However, even though I was an outspoken, obnoxious, wise-ass myself, even then, as a gradeschooler, I was cognizant that Ali's dubbing of Frazier as "the gorilla" was way below the belt (being a member of an ethnic minority myself and having seen how angry some of my black classmates became after being called "monkeys", etc by the white kids, I understood that Ali's insult was all the more brutal because Ali was himself black). Nonetheless, I still thought more or less highly of the former Cassius Clay, but was pulling for Frazier to win the fight, largely because I felt sorry for him for the drubbing that he had taken from George Foreman two years earlier. And, as it would turn out, the fight would prove all the pre-fight hype had been justified. And then some. Which is why we're still interested in this fight almst 35 years later.
(* - I say "what I THEN viewed to be Ali's intelligence and wittiness" because it wasn't very long before I realized that his intelligence and wit were greatly overrated: I began to notice that Ali spoke with a certain cadence whenever he went off on one of his diatribes or discourses and, when interrupted, would often continue with what he had been saying as if he had not been stopped, which made me realize that these utterances weren't off-the-top-of-the-head speeches, but actually ORATIONS i.e. PREPARED and well-REHEARSED speeches. Indeed, in the years immediately after the Thrilla, when the brain damage that he had already suffered gradually manifested itself more and more, Ali would often repeat, almost verbatim, many of the orations that he had delivered years earlier (and with the same cadence) - aptly demonstrating that they HAD been well-rehearsed - and, by the time of his retirement from the ring, he increasingly had a habit of repeating the same diatribes over and over again during a conversation. Of course, when he ACTUALLY had to speak off the top of his head on a subject that he was not fully prepped to discuss, Ali demonstrated that he not only wasn't very intelligent, but also was not very articulate - see, for example, the footage of his argument with British "tv personality" David Frost as to the meaning of the word "gentile". As for his so-called rapier wit, as several African-Canadian acquaintances have told me and as I had noticed myself earlier, young, urban, black males have long made a sport of trash-talking one another, so much of Ali's great zingers were probably gleaned from listening in on such encounters [and, of course, we all know now that many of his most famous and contraversial staetments were fed to him by his resident "witch doctor", Bundini Brown, members of the Black Muslim heirarchy, etc]. Indeed, as one friend who is also a big boxing fan and a black male put it, "the only people who really believe that Ali had a sharp wit are white, male Baby Boomers who grew up in lily white, Leave It To Beaver, 1950s era suburbia and, consequently, had never heard young blacks trash talk.")
All in all, this DVD does a good job of providing the background story to the Ali-Frazier rivalry, bringing the action in the ring "to life", and providing subtext and context, but, aside from a story about Ali firing a starter's pistol at Frazier's balcony, there isn't much new here for those already familiar with the "Louisville Lip" and "Smokin' Joe". Although it's nice to see and hear someone relate, for example, the fact that Ali had wanted his trainer, Angelo Dundee, to cut off his gloves in the rest period before the 15th and final round of the Thrilla and seeing the footage of Ali stating that he once spoke at a Ku Klux Klan rally, it's not as though these stories hadn't already "made the rounds" (on the printed page). About the only things that make this DVD very interesting - to hardcore boxing fans - are that we get to see how Frazier is faring as of 2008/9, that we hear Frazier provide commentary about the fight as he watches the footage, and that this is a very unusual boxing film/program in that it is presented from Frazier's point of view rather than Ali's (the only film or tv program - that I can recall at this moment - that covers the Ali-Frazier bouts AND is Smokin' Joe-centric is the Fox Sportsnet piece on him as part of the BEYOND THE GLORY series, which complements THRILLA IN MANILA nicely, so catch it - I also recommend that one read Mark Kram's GHOSTS OF MANILA: THE FATEFUL BLOOD FEUD BETWEEN MUHAMMAD ALI AND JOE FRAZIER, which 'tho flawed [my Amazon review of it says why], provides more subtext and context than this DVD does - it also reveals Ali's sad fate at the hands of those now closest to him). Simply put, individuals who are familiar with the names Ali and Frazier, but not very knowlegable about their rivalry will be the ones who enjoy this film the most. (By the by, this program/DVD identifies the wrong cornerman as George Benton in the fight footage; the former Philly middleweight is actually the tallest Frazier cornerman, not the short bald one. Also, observe how mishapen and "wrinkled" Ali and Frazier's gloves were in the latter half of the bout: they look like that because they were WATERLOGGED and, therefore, provided little protection to Ali and Frazier's hands, torsos, and heads [modern boxing gloves, by comparison, are water-resistant].)
Incidentally, another recently released Ali-related DVD, FACING ALI, is definitely worth the "price of admission". On it, ten of Ali's opponents - some well known in boxing cicles, some not so much - talk about their careers prior to and after their bouts with the "Greatest", as well as the fights themselves. What makes this enjoyable is that they are all forthright, modest, and VERY respectful of ALI (Ron Lyle, for example, suggests that the interviewer wouldn't be so interested in him if not for the fact that he fought Ali; maybe so, but boxing fans will hardly have forgotten the former convict given his exciting and brutal wars with fearsome sluggers George Foreman and Earnie Shavers, who also appear on FACING ALI). And, what makes this DVD VERY entertaining is that several of them, such as George Chuvalo, are articulate, insightful, AND funny (however, it's "Our 'enry", Henry Cooper, who steals the show, God bless him).
One more thing ... no disrespect, but contrary to what some of the other reviewers have opined, the Thrilla in Manila, while an exciting and brutal fight, is hardly the greatest or most exciting fight of all-time, in part because Ali spent so much time planted for long periods in one spot against the ropes (if you're watching it on tv, it's not so bad, but what about the people who were sitting in the "cheap seats"?). If one just judges from among bouts that have been filmed, there are probably at least twenty fights that definitely top this one for drama, shifting momentum, etc, such as Joe Louis-Billy Conn I, Carmen Basilio-Sugar Ray Robinson I, Basilio-Tony DeMarco II, Foreman-Lyle, Frazier-Ali I, etc. Furthermore, while Ali was a GREAT fighter - definitely a top three all-time heavyweight - it's ludicrous to deem him the best pound-for-pound boxer of all-time, as a couple of other reviewers have (sorry again) because, as former Ali sparring partner and opponent Larry Holmes points out in THRILLA IN MANILA, the Greatest's boxing skills - i.e. his "fundamentals" - weren't that good. Were they the same weight, there's no bloody way that Ali would have licked, say, Joe Gans, Harry Greb, Jimmy Wilde, or Eder Jofre.
Description of Thrilla in Manila
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