Muhammad Ali: The Greatest

An essential addition to the Ali iconography, this program contains two cinema vérité portraits of Muhammad Ali from photographer/filmmaker William Klein. The first, and best, was filmed in black and white in 1964 and serves almost as a "Before He Was King" prequel, as Ali shook up the world with his resounding defeat of Sonny Liston, and then rose to the heights of world celebrity as he went on to defend his heavyweight crown (footage of Ali meeting the Beatles is almost worth the price of the disc by itself). The second was filmed in 1974, as Ali fought George Foreman in Zaire in the historic "Rumble in the Jungle" that was definitively chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary When We Were Kings (VL-7/97). While there is little fight footage here, as the focus is more on the man than his golden gloves, there are some incredible scenes--including a shot of Ali sneaking up on Foreman's training camp to stick his tongue out at George! Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Lee Benson)