A.K.A. Cassius Clay

Rating:
Summary: Good Documentary on the first Half of Ali's Career
Review: AKA Cassius Clay was made toward the latter part of the Exile.
It starts out with an explanation of Ali's financial situation, then goes into the debate over who was better; Muhammad Ali or Joe Louis. Cus D'amato, the trainer of Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson, is in the documentary, and the exchanges and debates between Ali and D'amato are very fun to watch.

As the documentary goes along, it starts to get a little slow. It goes on about Ali's amateur career, some of Ali's bigger fights before Liston, then finally the Liston fight.

Then it gives a brief and interesting glimpse at the impact of Ali's conversion to Islam. Talk's a little about Malcolm X and show's some of his interesting speeches. It then goes into the "Phantom Punch" controversy and Ali explains the punch that KO'd Liston.

Then D'amato and Ali go at it over Ali's fight with Floyd Patterson. D'amato was Patterson's trainer and was trying to defend Floyd, whom Ali had totally humiliated and brutalized in the ring.

They kind of start to mix things around, they go into the Cleveland Williams fight first, then later the George Chuvallo fight (the Chuvallo fight came first.) Then it goes into the draft situation, the stripping of Ali's title, then lead's to clips of Ali's college lecture tours, then gives some interesting possibilities for Ali's future. Predictions about how he might get back into boxing, predictions about his political future, etc.

One interesting point is that during the Ali-Louis debate D'amato feel's that Ali would lose to Joe Louis since he apparently believed that Ali didn't have a great chin, when in actuality Ali regained the title because even though his speed was gone his chin was so good that the big sluggers like Frazier and Foreman couldn't put him out. And it's amazing that after watching the documentary you feel that the future look's hopeless for Ali, when what comes after is the regaining of his license, his victory in the Supreme Court and the over turning of his conviction, and his regaining of the Heavy Weight Championship.

If you want to get a glimpse at how amazing Ali's comeback was, get this documentary along with the Rumble in the Jungle, watch AKA Cassius Clay and then watch the Rumble in the Jungle, and you'll see what a monumental achievement it was for Ali to regain the title. Great documentary, and well worth ordering, and though the ending might be a little depressing, just the thought that 4 years after the documentary was made Ali had actually regained his title is just something amazing and very special to consider.

Rating:
Summary: Great Documentary about the first half of Ali's career
Review: AKA Cassius Clay was made toward the latter part of the Exile.

It starts out with an explanation of Ali's financial situation, then goes into the debate over who was better; Muhammad Ali or Joe Louis. Cus D'amato, the trainer of Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson, is in the documentary, and the exchanges and debates between Ali and D'amato are very fun to watch.

As the documentary goes along, it starts to get a little slow. It goes on about Ali's amateur career, some of Ali's bigger fights before Liston, then finally the Liston fight.

Then it gives a brief and interesting glimpse at the impact of Ali's conversion to Islam. Talk's a little about Malcolm X and show's some of his interesting speeches. It then goes into the "Phantom Punch" controversy and Ali explains the punch that KO'd Liston.

Then D'amato and Ali go at it over Ali's fight with Floyd Patterson. D'amato was Patterson's trainer and was trying to defend Floyd, whom Ali had totally humiliated and brutalized in the ring.

They kind of start to mix things around, they go into the Cleveland Williams fight first, then later the George Chuvallo fight (the Chuvallo fight came first.) Then it goes into the draft situation, the stripping of Ali's title, then lead's to clips of Ali's college lecture tours, then gives some interesting possibilities for Ali's future. Predictions about how he might get back into boxing, predictions about his political future, etc.

One interesting point is that during the Ali-Louis debate D'amato feel's that Ali would lose to Joe Louis since he apparently believed that Ali didn't have a great chin, when in actuality Ali regained the title because even though his speed was gone his chin was so good that the big sluggers like Frazier and Foreman couldn't put him out. And it's amazing that after watching the documentary you feel that the future look's hopeless for Ali, when what comes after is the regaining of his license, his victory in the Supreme Court and the over turning of his conviction, and his regaining of the Heavy Weight Championship.

If you want to get a glimpse at how amazing Ali's comeback was, get this documentary along with the Rumble in the Jungle, watch AKA Cassius Clay and then watch the Rumble in the Jungle, and you'll see what a monumental achievement it was for Ali to regain the title. Great documentary, and well worth ordering, and though the ending might be a little depressing, just the thought that 4 years after the documentary was made Ali had actually regained his title is just something amazing and very special to consider.