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An in-depth look at the life of boxer, Muhammad Ali, including his years as an activist and philanthropist.
Muhammad Ali: A Life takes a look back at the life and career of the world champion boxer and activist. No athlete has ever contributed more to his country or to the world than Muhammad Ali.
Brash boxer Cassius Clay burst into the American consciousness in the early 1960s, just ahead of the Civil Rights movement. His transformation into the spiritually enlightened heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali is legendary, but this religious awakening also led to a bitter legal battle with the U.S. government after he refused to serve in the Vietnam War. This film reveals the perfect storm of race, religion and politics that shaped one of the most recognizable figures in sports history.
Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his claim to conscientious objector status led to a controversial legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court in the land.
It’s 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the “Rumble in the Jungle” is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America’s top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali’s personal archive of “audio journals” as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend’s life story.
What we know today about many famous musicians, politicians, and actresses is due to the famous work of photographer Harry Benson. He captured vibrant and intimate photos of the most famous band in history;The Beatles. His extensive portfolio grew to include iconic photos of Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, and Dr. Martin Luther King. His wide-ranging work has appeared in publications including Life, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Benson, now 86, is still taking photos and has no intentions of stopping.
Cast as America’s Villain in the famed Rumble in the Jungle against Muhammad Ali, George Foreman lost one of the greatest fights in sports history. Immediately after the defeat, “Big George” fell into a spiral that made him abandon boxing and spend 10 years becoming an ordained minister following a near death experience. 20 years later on and into his 40’s, Foreman began an improbable climb back to the summit of world boxing becoming the heroic figure he’d always been destined to be, and writing one of the greatest underdog stories ever told.
Soul Power is a 2008 documentary film about the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa which accompanied the Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in October 1974. The film was made from archival footage; other footage shot at the time focusing on the fight was edited to form the film When We Were Kings.
The film is a cinematic journey into the secrets of genius as told through the greatest athletes of all time. It includes original interviews with Wayne Gretzky, Pelé, Jerry Rice, and features Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan, among others.
