Rating: 
Summary: Excellent footage of vintage Ali and Foreman
Review: This video captures the imagination of this titanic battle. From the socio/political aspects, to the return of a deposed champion, it provides unique insight to both fighters and the era.
Rating: 
Summary: Hands down the best documentary I've ever seen!
Review: When We Were Kings transcends Muhammad Ali the boxer, and the fight itself. This movie reveals the socio-political aspects and ramifications of the Rumble in the Jungle. It shows you the rapport that Ali had with the people of Zaire, as the crowd chants "Ali kill him" in their native language. All this combined with the brilliant filmmaking and cinematography makes this one of my favorite movies, documentary or otherwise. END
Rating:
Summary: Not quite the whole truth
Review: My DVD, bought in England, contains as extras the full-length footage, round by round, of both the Rumble and the Thrilla, with English commentary by David Frost among others. I have to agree with those reviewers who have pointed out that WWWK badly misrepresents the fight. The simple truth is that Ali won every round of the Rumble. He was right on top of Foreman from the outset, and the clever editing and dramatic spin put on the match by Norman Mailer is just so much fiction. Foreman looked like he'd swallowed some substance which was the opposite of speed: as Joe Frazier said in the live commentary, he was missing with empty air-swings and "boxing foolish". After two rounds, which was about as far as he'd needed to go in previous fights, he ran out of wind. He still tried to use Ali's body as a punch-bag, more and more feebly, while Ali was picking off blow after blow to Foreman's head as if it was a standing punch-ball. Ali certainly threw a head-punch with shattering speed. He rolled around on the ropes a lot of the time, but for the rest he ducked away and danced around grinning fit to bust, mocking Foreman with his mouth and winking to the crowd. He was in much better physical shape, superbly fit, and he boxed an extremely smart strategy in the local conditions. WWWK is still a great film, however, full of interesting comment on the politics and hoop-la of the event: but it's marred by its fake telling of the fight. Ali is presented in all his glorious charismatic uppity persona, a magnificent physical presence, funny and clever, the epitome of boxing skill. I could have done without a lot of the music etc, but it seems this was part of the original reason for making the film. Four stars for WWWK, five stars for this DVD because it has the real thing as an extra feature.
Rating:
Summary: Ali in action
Review: This film recounts the "Rumble in the Jungle", a classic battle between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman, and all that preceeded it. The film looks at everything in several ways, and I'm not sure if any particular audience can be completely satisfied. However, it does come together to be a very nice film.
It's not really a boxing documentary, because it has very little of the actual fight. I was disappointed in that. What it does have is a lot of Ali running his mouth (which he did so well). Being somewhat younger, I wasn't around for Ali's heyday. We always hear how great Ali was, but the Ali we see today, is the man stricken with Parkinson's. To see Ali in his finest form, was pretty cool. These weren't formal interviews or press conferences, but everyday Ali showboating for a camera. In this respect, it was a very pro-Ali film (to the victor goes the spoils I guess). My complaints (besides lack of boxing):
It spends excessive time showing some of the clips from concerts with James Brown, B.B. King, and etc. They're great musicians, but I watched the movie to see boxing and boxing-related things, not a music video. It spends another length of time, talking about how the fight was tying roots of blacks back to African and such. I thought it was bit of hogwash, because the fight was in Zaire only because the dictator of Zaire paid the 10 million for the fight: no other reason. In summary, a very good film if you want to see Ali in action. If you want to see a lot of the fight, don't get this.
Rating:
Summary: great background on Rumble in the Jungle 1974 event
Review: The thing that leaped out at me:
1) BB King's singing and playing guitar in 1974 in Africa was at the top of his game.
2) Norman Mailer's analysis and insight when interviewed 1974 is like a sample from his book, "Fight", which is now featured, in part, on Muhammad Ali's web site now.
3) Ali seemed like a smartalec to me in 1974, but now in 2004 looking at the old footage of him talking, he seems charismatic and funny .If you want lots of Rumble in the Jungle fight footage, this is not the DVD for you, but if you want insight in to the event and what contributed to Ali's upset of Foreman, this is a must have.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but should have examined the fight further.
Review: 'When We Were Kings' is a fantastic documentary about one of the most famous fights in boxing history; the epic battle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, nicknamed "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire. Die-hard boxing fans may be disappointed though. The films studies the hype and preparation before the match. One big problem. It doesn't examine the actual fight in that much detail. It should have studied each round with depth and really explained how Foreman lost so abruptly.
Rating:
Summary: Great film, crap DVD
Review: This DVD does NOT contain the entire film seen in the theaters. The Beatles scenes are entirely gone, and my favorite song from the movie is also missing, as it also is from the soundtrack. The DVD also has no special features at all.
If you loved the movie, you have to buy it, but you don't have to be happy about it.
Rating:
Summary: By far, the best summary about Ali`s personality
Review: A must for a boxing fan, and a double must ++ for those of us who admire Ali. To know all the detours and delays to have this movie fixed makes us think it doesn`t matter, at last we have it. You can hate Don King, but it`s needed to recognize his effort to do something big, with a music festival with mainly black musicians, in Africa, in a time when still racial stuff was hot. You have to watch it.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite the whole truth
Review: This fight was one of the first distinct memories of my childhood. The damn thing took forever to come on TV (my father and his friends had gotten it on closed circuit in Germany) and I fell asleep at least once waiting for the fighters to finally make it into the ring. I was too young to understand everything that went on in the leadup to the "event" (and that's what it was) and I was absolutely delighted to learn that this film was going to be released so I could catch up. And it is a truly great film. It is a great film because it documents a great time in American and African history and because the things it documents are inherently dramatic and exciting. That said, this is also a terrific film from a filmmaking point of view; wonderful camera work, in your face documenting, and intelligent editing. It's not as "artsy" as Leni Riefenstahl's classic documentation of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but that event had a totally different cultural and historical context. As a sport film, this movie is also important because it documents one of the greatest fights of all time; Ali correctly noted after the fight that his rope-a-dope strategy would go down in the annals of boxing. All in all a wonderfully entertaining, informative, and inspiring way to spend about 90 minutes of your time.
Rating:
Summary: Ali Boom Bay Yea
Review: As a piece of archival footage this film can't be beat, as it captures the chaos and pageantry that surrounded the Ali-Foreman fight in 1974. Ali never looked so great as he did in the build up to this fight. He was in prime form, even if a heavy underdog to the massive George Foreman. Leon Gast captures Ali in all his crazy kinetic glory, boasting proudly of how he would dance, and Foreman wouldn't lay a glove on him. Gast also focuses on Don King who in typical fashion played both ends of the stick, promoting both fighters and coming up with a $10 million purse thanks to Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire's ruthless dictator, who saw a potential windfall for the country in the international attention this fight would generate. As Ali noted, some nations go to war to get attention and this fight will cost a lot less than a war. What we got was the famous "Rumble in the Jungle." Unfortunately, this film doesn't go very deep in analyzing the fight, and gives the fight itself surprisingly short shrift. All we get are a handful of truncated rounds and the final blow delivered by Ali. But, what this film does provide is the pageant that surrounded the fight along with engaging commentary by Norman Mailler, who evocatively captured the spectacle in "The Fight," George Plimpton, Thomas Hauser, who has written the definitive biography on Ali, and Spike Lee. Mailler is the most fun to listen to, as he lived and breathed the fight and gives some of the most trenchant comments on it, but he too seemed mystified at how Ali pulled it off, chalking it up to the "trembling woman" who supposedly sucked the life out of Foreman. George Foreman seemed invincible, having torn apart Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, but he simply wasn't prepared to deal with someone of Ali's caliber, or the massive publicity this fight generated. Foreman was also shocked to be so poorly received in Africa, where Ali was King. Foreman seemed out of place in Kinshasha, never able to find his footing or able to deal with a crafty fighter like Ali, who came up with his famous "rope-a-dope" that evening. Foreman simply punched himself out and had nothing left after seven rounds. It was then that Ali worked his magic and proved to the world that he was indeed the greatest, staging one of the most astonishing comebacks in sports history. "Ali Boom Bay Yea" the crowd chanted as Ali fought himself off the ropes and pummeled Foreman with an array of blows that had him tumbling to the mat. Ali never had another moment like this, although he would successfully defend his title 10 times before his ignominous defeat to Leon Spinks in 1978, only to regain it for the third time that year. This film does more than any other at capturing Ali in top form, with all his remarkable charisma and incredible talent.
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