When We Were Kings
by Leon Gast
List Price:
Our Price: $7.97
You Save: $7.01 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.71 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: B.B. King, Don King, George Foreman, James Brown, Muhammad AliDirector: Leon Gast
Brand: Universal Studios
Cinematographer: Albert Maysles
Cinematographer: Kevin Keating
Producer: Leon Gast
Producer: David Sonenberg
Producer: Keith Robinson
Producer: Taylor Hackford
Producer: Vikram Jayanti
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-05
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of When We Were Kings
DVD Review: "George is fightin' foolish!"
Summary: 5 Stars
As any would-be boxer knows, walking into a boxing gym at the age of 32 with aspirations to greatness would provoke a few chuckles and some sound advice to keep your day job.
Picture, then, a 32 year old man who has spent the last 10 years or so signing autographs at college campuses and, unable to do anything but look back at his glory days while remaining in shape and still sparring, unsure of whether he would ever be able to fight again. Then picture a 25 year old Heavyweight Champion who could send your teeth out and your brain to the other side of your head with one solid punch, and who has been effortlessly demolishing the greats of the current boxing scene. The former in this case is Muhammad Ali, and the latter is George Foreman.
It is fashionable now to denigrate Ali's accomplishments, question his undeniable stance as an inspiration to blacks and his uncompromising opposition to the Vietnam war, to magnify his dark side to absurd proportions; here, however, he leaves us with no doubt as to his greatness as a boxer and his charisma as a social figure.
This is a masterfully made documentary when one considers the subject--one boxing match with a lot riding on it. The turbulent heat of the 1960's simmer from every scene in Zaire, it seems impossible to reconcile this livewire, Ali at 32, making everyone laugh, taunting, never missing a chance to be in front of the camera, with the all but mute Parkinson's victim we see shamble around today. You have to watch this to understand why Will Smith failed: no one can replicate the cartoonish, almost insufferably fierce and proud presence of Muhammad Ali during this time. Stoned musicians crack jokes, both fighters take serious verbal shots at each other (if you only know Foreman as that smiling bald guy who sells grills, you'll be surprised to see a frightening, arrogant young man who drips with self-assurance and physical dominance in every scene), jazz music blares everywhere, and tension mounts. Everyone, even those in his own training camp, have Ali pegged as failing or getting seriously hurt before he enters the ring. Everyone but Ali.
As far as the fighting footage goes, a lot of it is interrupted by interesting but distracting commentary from the respectable George Plimpton and the scuzzy Norman Mailer, who was inspired to write a really bad book about the event entitled "The Fight". Plimpton later said the two most shocking events he had ever witnessed were the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Muhammad Ali defeating George Foreman.
One has to feel bad for Foreman, as Ali steals all the thunder for himself as soon as their planes land in Africa. The Africans immediately see him as the true Champion; he fills his press conferences with a lightning grandiosity that is impossible not to like. Foreman is quiet and acidic. In his mind, he had already beaten Ali.
Ali as tactician and psychological terrorist is what we get to see here. Objectively, there were few reasons for Foreman to fear Ali; he was many years his senior, no longer had the invincibility of the former Cassius Clay, and had spent many years inactive. Foreman, on the other hand, possessed such incredible brute force that he was knocking a hole (anyone who has ever hit a real boxing bag knows how fearsome this really is) in one Everlast heavy a day.
But somehow Ali, managed it, as Foreman looks more stunned and
fearful with every round; it is bizarre to see this monolith of a man, who then possessed the physical presence of two Tysons, standing in the ring with the look of a ten year old who has just been slapped by his father.
Ali pulled a move that could have been potentially fatal at the hands of Foreman--he simply leaned against the ropes during each round, infuriating the already angry Foreman by ridiculing him ("You hit like a girl, George") and allowing the giant to punch him as hard as he could. How he absorbed these blows--the ones that didn't miss--without either passing out or getting his ribs cracked is still a mystery to me. The few times Ali gets hit full force he looks like a man who was just shot; his eyes glaze, his body takes on momentary rigidity, but then he plays it off and just keeps moving. Then, when Foreman has nothing left and has really just given up, Ali gives him two vicious right hand leads that floor him.
This moment catapulted Ali into eternity. He had effectively done the impossible. The Liston fights and the Thrilla In Manilla wouldn't have been enough without this victory. I wouldn't say that Ali's boxing skills are necessarily present enough here to call it one of his best "fighting" moments per se, but rather it gives us a keyhole into his spirit. He had the balls of an elephant and an amount of bravery most people can only muster in absolute emergencies, perhaps too much for his own good. To be battered that viciously and still care about the Heavyweight Championship shows how much boxing meant to him.
Whatever anyone might say, along with Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali was the most gifted boxer of all time. One need only watch this, or the actual tape of the entire fight, to realize this.
Foreman became a headcase after this fight, losing to Jimmy Young and fighters of a lower caliber. He denied to himself and intimidated everyone else into denying he had lost that night; he was so devastated and dumbfounded that he wanted to live in a solipsistic world of delusion. This changed later. He stopped boxing for awhile and had some kind of religious vision. This fight changed one man's entire personality and cemented the other one's reputation as the greatest boxer of all time.
Description of When We Were Kings
WHEN WE WERE KINGS - DVD MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack JohnsonParamount; Release date: 2005-01-11; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
A.K.A. Cassius ClaySony; Release date: 2002-02-05; DVD
Best price: $2.97
Price in other shops:
King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Heroby David Remnick
Vintage; Published: 1999-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.18
Price in other shops:
Muhammad Ali - Through the Eyes of the WorldUniversal Studios; Release date: 2002-01-29; DVD
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops:
45 Fantastic Fights Of The CenturyTango; Release date: 2006-05-04; DVD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Hoop Dreams (The Criterion Collection)Fine-line; Release date: 2005-05-10; DVD
Best price: $13.73
Price in other shops:
Champions Forever: The Definitive EditionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2009-10-20; DVD
Best price: $10.74
Price in other shops:
Thrilla in ManilaWEA DES Moines Video; Release date: 2009-06-02; DVD
Best price: $5.09
Price in other shops:
Muhammad Ali - The Greatest CollectionRelease date: 2001-10-30; DVD
Best price: $35.00
Muhammad Ali - The Whole StoryWarner Brothers; Release date: 2001-12-18; DVD
Best price: $17.88
Price in other shops: