When We Were Kings! A review of the documentary

When We Were Kings! A review of the documentary

No sports figure was as polarizing as Muhammad Ali in the sixties. So it's ironic that one who was so demonized on his religious beliefs and his position on the Vietnam War, which was at that time politically incorrect, should wind up being the most beloved national sports figure ever. No professional athlete at the height of his career has ever sacrificed as much as Ali, let alone any entertainer period, especially when he also happened to be Black. Ali was a champion not only in the boxing ring, but also a champion who set an example for those who believed in something greater than himself, namely the human race, and he did it in a time when the risk for doing so was not just losing his livelihood, but also his life.

When We Were Kings is Mr. Leon Gast's 1996 Academy Award winning documentary of the hype and preparations leading up to one of the greatest upsets in sports history, 1974's Rumble in the Jungle boxing contest between Ali and George Foreman, who, at that time was perceived by the pundits as virtually indestructible. In this doc we get to see Ali out of his boxing element as he was then: cocky, defiant, funny, as good as a promoter as he was a fighter. We get to hear, in his own words, why he is the greatest, that his fight against Foreman is only a microcosm of the struggles of his people in America and Africa against injustice. We get to see him courting the sentiment of the Congo people by characterizing Foreman as a pawn of the White establishment. We also get to see a very young Don King with his black hair (now white) shooting up, building up the hype, bringing in America's hottest Black musicians and entertainers like James Brown,B.B. King, The Spinners (my all-time favorite group), Bill Withers, Big Black,etc. We get to hear the music, which serves as the soundtrack to the fighter's public training camps. We get various perspectives from the most influential writers of that time like George Plimpton and Norman Mailer (and also Mr. Spike Lee), who were both also ringside and provide lots of anecdotes, often very funny, of a lot of behind the scenes stuff, including ringside blow-by-blow descriptions of the fight itself.

This film is very entertaining and a great artifact for young people who have heard of but have no idea who Ali was, what makes him the great icon that he is, and why he is considered the greatest in and out of the Boxing ring. I can't say enough about this documentary. I've seen it maybe 3 times in the past month. It's that good. Back then, there was a lot of swagger and that's what this film is essentially about. When men, like Ali, were regarded as Kings, as larger than life, who walked among us like giants. Took me a long time to see this film and it was well worth the wait. Think I'll see it again in a couple of weeks.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 murder mystery Frenzy: my review of the film

Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 murder mystery Frenzy: my review of the film

Director Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 British murder mystery Frenzy takes everything from his best films and puts them all into 1 entertaining fun ride revolving around an unemployed hard-luck bartender named Richard--played by Jon Finch-- who becomes the perfect fall-guy for a series of grisly murders committed with neckties.

As he does in almost all of his movies, Hitchcock reveals to us--the viewers-- early on in the film who the real necktie killer is and dedicates the remaining 3/4 of the film to having the characters solve this mystery. In Richard Blaney, Hitchcock provides us with a perfect suspect for committing the murders and no tangible reason to believe in his innocence other than intuition and faith. Hitchcock likes to play with the viewers and the main character in this fashion. For instance, in his 1942 film Saboteur, the accused protagonist finds a blind man who believes in his innocence. And in his 1938 murder mystery The Lady Vanishes, we have a similar situation, only this time the protagonist is a young woman who insists on the existence of a British agent who disappears on a train when no one but her has seen the agent.

But Frenzy is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies because you could see him making a transition in the style in which he shot movies in up to that point, similar to another great director named Stanley Kubrick who's style changed radically from the 1964 political satire Dr. Strangelove to his 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. I believe that Frenzy, like 2001, marked a new direction for Hitchcock. Frenzy marked the 1st time he chose to show murder including sexual assault in graphic detail. In his past films, these elements would have been suggested by either dialogue or in a contextual scene in which the actual scene itself would have been edited out. Also, this film marked a return, of sorts, to his roots as a British director and working with actors who weren't household names. As 1 of Hitchcock's last films, Frenzy reveals hints that his powers hadn't diminished and were, in fact, becoming even greater. If you haven't seen this film, you should and this is 1 Criterion should definitely add to their collection.

A review of Mori Masaki's 1983 anime Barefoot Gen

A review of Mori Masaki's 1983 anime classic Barefoot Gen

When discussions of the greatest anti war films come up, Director Mori Masaki's 1983 anime Barefoot Gen should be right there in the same discussion as Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film Paths of Glory if not for anything other than the human dimension of war it provides from the perspective of those regarded as collateral damage.

Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur: a review

Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur: a review

Director Alfred Hitchcock's 1942 noir spy thriller Saboteur is about a munitions worker (Robert Cummings) falsely accused of starting a fire in a warehouse that kills his friend and who goes on a cross-country search to find the real culprit named Fry. Like Hitchcock's 1959 film North By Northwest and his 1938 British mystery film The Lady Vanishes, the protagonists' real search is for 1 single person who believes in him. And like those films, once he finds that person who believes in him he also discovers the truth and the man who really killed his friend. The overall lesson in this film is that you can't always judge something by the way it looks on the surface, beautifully illustrated by a blind man as Director James Whale does in his 1935 Horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein.

The Mill and The Cross: my review of Lech Majewski's beautiful film

The Mill and The Cross: my review of Lech Majewski's beautiful film

Saw Director Lech Majewski's film The Mill and The Cross at the Tivoli back in 2011. Never heard of it and chose it spur-of-the-moment. The best film of its kind I've seen since The Tree of Life. Mill and The Cross is based on a famous painting by Pieter Bruegel called "Way to Calvary," which depicts the Crucifixion.

The great Rutger Hauer plays Bruegel, Michael York his patron, and York's wife, Charlotte Rampling, Bruegel's reference for Mary, Jesus' mother.

One of the greatest Vietnam War films ever!: My review of Oliver Stone's 'Platoon'

One of the greatest Vietnam War films ever!: My review of Oliver Stone's 'Platoon'

Director Oliver Stone's 1986 film Platoon is one of the most powerful anti war films ever made, the film that made Charlie Sheen a star, following in his father Martin Sheen's footsteps who also starred in one of the most iconic war films, Francis Ford Copolla's 1979 epic Apocalypse Now. Amazingly, not only are these 2 films headlined by father and son but both films also take place in the Vietnam war.

Spike Lee's 'Jungle Fever:' my review

Spike Lee's 'Jungle Fever:' my review

When I first saw Director Spike Lee's 1991 drama Jungle Fever in the theater, I was overwhelmed with the cinematography, particularly the various gels that were used by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson to make some scenes look gritty and blown out and other gels used to make the picture look razor sharp such as the scene involving the crack house called the Taj Mahal. It is as if the director used these photographic techniques as one using a highlight marker to overemphasize details he wanted to stand out. And those scenes--like electrified hair--do stand out, so much so that the rest of the film--at times--seems more like filler than context for these scenes. Nevertheless, there are enough good things about the film besides Ernest Dickerson's phantasmagorical cinematography that are worth a word or 2. The film's all-star cast includes Anthony Quinn, Wesley Snipes, Samuel L. Jackston, John Turturro, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, and Halle Berry.