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The Greatest (1977)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
4/25
4/25:
Who could play Muhammad Ali in a film about himself?
The answer is nobody other than Muhammad Ali. I remember when ESPN ran a rubbish contest to find out who the
best North America athlete was of the 20th century. It turned out to be Michael Jordan. They did another
version and came up with Bo Jackson. Wrong on both counts, and it's not even close.
Muhammad Ali went against some of the best boxers his heavyweight division could offer: Sonny Liston,
Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Floyd Patterson, and Ken Norton. He beat nearly all twice, and they weren't
easy fights. In a couple of bouts, he was a huge underdog, and nobody gave him a chance, especially
against George Foreman (see the documentary When We Were Kings).
Let's not forget that Muhammad Ali lost four years of his prime when he refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army
(he was 25 years old when that happened), causing him to lose the first professional boxing match of his
career to Joe Frazier afterwards.
Between one and two billion TV viewers worldwide watched some of Muhammad Ali's fights in live. Can you name
another athlete, or anybody else at all, with that kind of pull? His trash-talking is legendary.
Funny, outlandish, and unique, nobody ever spoke like that, even in a rhyming pattern with zero profanity, or
declared emerging victorious before the event had started. He almost always made good on them, and
remember...his opponents were very tough fighters, some of the best ever: Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, and
George Foreman.
Apart from being a pioneer in hip hop, paving the way to rap, Muhammad Ali made other firsts. When he agreed
to a bizarre match with Antonio Inoki, it was the beginning of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). On January 19, 1981,
cops had tried for hours to prevent a suicidal man from jumping from a high-rise building but to no avail, and
people down there were yelling at him to do it already. Muhammad Ali's friend just happened to be there, saw
what was going on, and decided to get the boxer to come over. So he did and was successful in talking the
suicide man out of it in mere minutes. This changed everything in terms of how to handle such situations
because it would lead to other copycats in wanting to talk to famous people as part of their demands.
So, yes...Muhammad Ali was the greatest North America athlete of the 20th century. There was nobody like him,
especially in terms of worldwide impact. Michael Jordan wasn't in his league; it's just marketing campaign,
thanks to Nike. I would say Michael Jackson was far more popular than him. Bo Jackson? Yeah, right...his
professional career barely lasted long, and he was more of a wimp when it came to dealing with injuries in
the NFL.
While watching The Greatest, I thought the story was interesting, but a lot of it is made up,
including the moment that Muhammad Ali threw his gold medal over the bridge, and omits important
details, especially when it comes to the bad stuff. That's part of his showsmanship. One couldn't tell if
he was joking or being serious or somewhere in between. However, there's no denying his larger-than-life
personality.
Whenever Muhammad Ali is in the same scene with other Oscar winners and nominees like Ernest Borgnine,
Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Ben Johnson, Paul Winfield, and John Marley, these guys are fake actors
compared to the legendary boxer who had accomplished so much. And yep, that's Drew Bundini Brown playing
himself, and he was responsible for coming up with a lot of stuff that Muhammad Ali would eventually say.
I would've liked to see Malcolm X playing himself, but he was assassinated in 1965. At least, there's no
Howard Cosell; I hated that fucking weasel who thought he was special by hanging around the boxer.
As great as Muhammad Ali was, he was, in truth, a hypocrite. Claiming to believe in peace and love and labelling
himself the people's champion, he was a fighter who often talked about destroying men and called some of them,
most especially Joe Frazier who was a decent person, "Uncle Tom," a follower of the criminal
organization called Nation of Islam that preached segregation and hate against white people, a serial
adulterer who cheated on his three wives (he met them when they were underage or barely so) and impregnated
many women, and an absentee father.
All in all, The Greatest is a largely fascinating hagiographic picture, thanks to Muhammad Ali
playing himself.