ALI

(December 2001, U.S.)

I spent a small part of my childhood watching the fights of Muhammad Ali on ABC-TV's Wide World of Sports with my father. I watched him regain his title against Leon Spinks in 1978. I also watched him get the everloving crap beaten out of him by Larry Holmes in 1980 during his last fight. Watching Will Smith take on the role of the former heavyweight champion of the world (during the portion of his life from 1964 to 1974) was like watching a small part of sports history unfold in front of my eyes again. Not just the boxing, but also the popular public showmanship that made Ali perhaps the greatest American sports figure of the 20th Century.

Will Smith, in my opinion, looks about as much as the real Ali as Anthony Hopkins looked like Richard Nixon. Smith's performance, however, nails it to the bone. Watching sequences of ALI that focuses on Ali's relationship with Malcom X takes me back to Spike Lee's 1992 film. In fact, I have occassionally had to remind myself that ALI is directed by a white man, because so much of the film's flavor feels like a Spike Lee film. Makes me wonder how different the film might have been had it been under his direction instead of Michael Mann's.

Ali was (and still is) an American legend. He's 68 years-old now and suffers from Parkinson's disease (may grandfather had that, too). It's hard to imagine a world someday where there will be no more Muhammad Ali.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Ali: "I ain't draft dodging. I ain't burnin' no flag. I ain't runnin' to Canada. I'm stayin' right here. You wanna send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I've been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain't going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I wanna die, I'll die right here, right now, fightin' you, if I wanna die! You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. YOU my opposer when I want freedom! YOU my opposer when I want justice! YOU my opposer when I want equality! Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won't even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won't even stand up for me right here at home!"