posted 01-13-2002 04:10 AM            

Anyway, Ali covers the timeline from early 1964 when Cassius Clay (he didn't become Muhammad Ali until 1965) was training for a fight against the reigning heavyweight champion at the time, Sonny Liston, up to the end of the Rumble in the Jungle in late 1974.

Will Smith did a very passable Clay/Ali, and Jon Voight did rather well as sportscaster Howard Cosell. It seemed like the role of Ali fit Will Smith like a glove. Hell, Will Smith almost looks like a clone of Ali!

The people who played Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman played their roles to the hilt - I could swear they were clones of the people they portrayed.

The boxing matches seen in the course of Ali:

• Clay vs. Liston in 1964.
  
• Ali vs. Liston in 1965 (Ali KO'ed Liston in one round).
  
• Ali vs. Jerry Quarry somewhere in the time frame of 1967 - 1970 (Ali could box in very few areas because of his refusal to be drafted to Vietnam at the time).
  
• Ali vs. Joe Frazier in 1971, billed as the "Fight of the Century" (Ali's first professional loss).
  
• (parts of it seen on TV when Ali was trying to set up a rematch with Frazier) Frazier vs. Foreman in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973 when Foreman sent Frazier crashing to the canvas six times in 2 rounds. I provided part of a transcript of that match broadcast in the Even Newer Super Happy Room thread.
  
• Ali vs. Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, billed as the "Rumble in the Jungle". Ali unveiled his rope-a-dope strategy in that one, but that may have contributed to why he's so messed up in the head.
  

The boxing matches didn't deviate from what really happened, a plus.

Its length (almost 3 hours) is a bit of a detractor, though.

All in all, I would rate this movie 3 and a half boxing gloves out of 5. A movie to see if you have lots of time to blow and have some interest in boxing, but not really if you're not into boxing.

posted 01-14-2002 11:19 AM            

He immortalized that bout by screaming three times in a row - "Down goes Frazier".

posted 01-24-2002 05:13 PM            

Now that you mention it, the movie got boring towards the end. I already knew what would happen in Ali versus Foreman at the end (I watched it in that Ali DVD I bought months ago).