Ali on Film: The Best Muhammad Ali Movies

Muhammad Ali has been featured in all sorts of movies, interviewed in person, portrayed as a character, and shown in hours upon hours of archived footage. Between television shows, television movies, and feature films Muhammad Ali's name appears on nearly 200 titles.¹

There is so much Ali footage in existence that sorting the good from the bad to find what is worthwhile has become a challenge.

Here are a few suggestions to guide you through the jungle of Ali movies.

When We Were Kings (Director: Leon Gast) (1996)

One of the most captivating documentaries on any subject, When We Were Kings tells the story of the "Rumble in the Jungle", the Ali vs. Foreman fight in Zaire (1974). Ali's reception in the central African nation* couldn't have been more different from George Foreman's greeting.

Ali was lauded, cheered, and people chanted his name everywhere he went. Foreman was reviled and ignored.

As far as Zaire was concerned this fight was good against evil. The lighter-skinned Muhammad Ali represented good and the film captures him in top form, jiving and bantering, joking and sparring; putting all his genius on display.

The "Rumble in the Jungle" was not just a boxing match. It was a media event.

James Brown headlined a stellar phalanx of African-American and African musical talent. (In 2008, a documentary was released focusing exclusively on this concert event: Soul Power.)

Writer and boxing afficionado Norman Mailer also attended the event. He gives some very interesting and insightful interviews which, alongside the on-site interviews with Foreman, Ali, Don King and James Brown, add up to an engrossing piece of cinema.

If you watch only one Muhammad Ali film in your lifetime, When We Were Kings is the clear choice.

Ali (Director: Michael Mann) (2001)

Muhammad Ali is a very well documented persona. Film clips abound. Footage of Ali with Malcolm X, Ali with Don King, Ali reciting original poetry, Ali protesting his draft into the military...it's all out there...on YouTube. His fights are equally well documented and are widely available on video.

This easy access to Muhammad Ali footage makes the prospect of a feature film about Ali troublesome. In 2001, Will Smith took the part of Muhammad Ali in a film about the boxer. Though it is difficult to take exception with Will Smith's acting, it is only natural to take exception with the content of the film.

A defender of the film might suggest that many people don't know that Muhammad Ali was friends with Malcolm X and that he was a deeply sincere and emotional personality. The film Ali makes these things clear.

Well, ok...but hundreds of interviews and newsreels tell the same story with the added advantage of featuring the actual Muhammad Ali (and the actual Malcolm X).

Facing Ali (Director: Pete McCormack) (2009)

A film telling the Muhammad Ali story from the perspective of his opponents, Facing Ali presents a unique perspective on "the Greatest."

Muhammad Ali was respected, loved, and resented by the fighters he faced in the ring.

There is something refreshing about hearing the stories of the Ali fights and the Ali legend from the people who he competed with. Many of the fighters in this film had their biggest fight against Ali; reached the pinnacle of their careers in battling Ali.

George Foreman and Joe Frazier have particularly interesting takes on the person and the legend of Muhammad Ali, saying things that are far from congratulatory at times.

More From Associated Content:

Muhammad Ali: Greatest American Athlete

Mike Tyson: A Great Boxer...Among Other Things.

Sources:

IMDb.com

YahooMovies

Country Studies

*Zaire is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.