When We Were Kings

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Audience Member This is a perfect documentary film. A brilliant masterpiece. As a fan of Muhammad Ali, this film was a pleasure to watch over and over and over again. You don’t have to be a fan of Ali, Foreman or boxing to thoroughly enjoy this story of triumph. A true ‘David vs. Goliath’ story that takes place in Africa. The scenes with James Brown & Miles Davis were also beautiful to see. A must see. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/13/24 Full Review Jay C This Documentary is the Greatest! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/29/23 Full Review Chief B Beautiful!! RIP Muhammad Ali the real life superhero Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/16/23 Full Review Diane B What a wit! So fit! When I was a little kid, I remember two times my dad called us to gather on the couch in front of the TV. One was for Elvis in Hawaii. The other was for the Ali-Foreman bout. The price Ali paid to stand by his beliefs. The incredible drive and charisma and curiosity and wisdom. It all comes through here ... and the Foreman you see in this film bears no resemblance to the cheerful guy hawking grills in K-mart. He looks like he wants to murder Ali through the film. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/13/22 Full Review dave s To be clear, you do not need to be a boxing fan to enjoy Leon Gast's documentary When We Were Kings. The primary focus of the film is the legendary ‘Rumble in the Jungle' heavyweight title fight between the confident and charismatic Muhammad Ali and the morose, powerful George Foreman, but the movie is about so much more, including concert footage of James Brown, B.B. King and The Spinners. In addition, When We Were Kings touches on the tyranny of Zaire's (the location of the film) President Mobutu, mysticism, social injustice, and the healing power of music. The documentary also includes insightful commentaries by Norman Mailer and George Plimpton, who were covering the fight as journalists, as well as a few words from Spike Lee. And, for boxing fans, the fight coverage is fantastic. Beautifully paced and shrewdly edited, there is never a dull moment. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review jordan m For how old this documentary is (preceding Ali's death by 20 years) and how much time had elapsed between its release and its subject matter, this was a wildly entertaining viewing experience. I love George Plimpton & don't believe he's ever had a bad take on anything. I'm a big MMA nerd but have never truly been interested in boxing; I even take some mild offense when boxing matches are referred to as fights as that's just not what they are, but the way the documentary sets up the match as an absolute spectacle and the way one can retrospectively see how much heart it took for each man to do as well as they did, I find myself bending on the beliefs I held before I watched this. I am especially relieved they did so well with this because I watched it as homework in advance of some other movies where Ali is portrayed by others so as to judge how well they did; this doc made doing that much easier than it might have done. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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