The Mailer Review/Volume 13, 2019/When We Were Kings: Review and Commentary: Difference between revisions
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The so-called Butterfly Effect might have just as well taken its name from boxing, rather than chaos theory, and, in popular culture, Ray Bradbury’s 1952 science fiction story, “A Sound of Thunder.” The basic concept is that small causes may have momentous effects. In Bradbury’s tale, a time traveler goes back to the age of dinosaurs, accidentally steps on a butterfly, and returns to find his world irreparably changed—and not for the better.{{sfn|Bradbury|2005|p=236}} In the boxing example, one of the results was the documentary ''When We Were Kings'', which would not have been produced but for Foreman’s cut and the rescheduling of the heavyweight Championship of the World for five weeks later. | The so-called Butterfly Effect might have just as well taken its name from boxing, rather than chaos theory, and, in popular culture, Ray Bradbury’s 1952 science fiction story, “A Sound of Thunder.” The basic concept is that small causes may have momentous effects. In Bradbury’s tale, a time traveler goes back to the age of dinosaurs, accidentally steps on a butterfly, and returns to find his world irreparably changed—and not for the better.{{sfn|Bradbury|2005|p=236}} In the boxing example, one of the results was the documentary ''When We Were Kings'', which would not have been produced but for Foreman’s cut and the rescheduling of the heavyweight Championship of the World for five weeks later. | ||
Criterion has released a Blu-Ray DVD of ''When We Were Kings''. Norman Mailer and George Plimpton, along with Spike Lee, Ali Biographer Thomas Hauser, and actor Malik Bowens provide sometimes-valuable commentary in studio interviews recorded twenty years after the fight. The big bonus in the Blu-Ray version is the inclusion of Soul Power, a documentary of the Zaire 74 music festival associated with the fight. ''When We Were Kings'' is the perfect companion to Mailer’s short-but-compelling classic, ''The Fight''. The movie received an Academy Award in 1997 for Best Documentary, along with numerous other accolades. Coincidentally, six years after presenting the Oscar to director Leon Gast, actor Will Smith was cast to play Muhammad Ali in the biopic. | |||
Mailer’s presence in the documentary is indispensable. Even though some of his contentions are based on hearsay, his tone is authoritative, and, as always when on camera, he’s simply entertaining. His account of the fight itself, like his written account, is precise and accurate. Plimpton, who was also in Zaire, has drawn criticism for some of his conjectures, and will from this reviewer a little further on. Spike Lee, who was a teenager at the time of the fight, deadpans a few Ali truisms, which add little to the film, and Malik Bowens’ presence feels entirely gratuitous. Bowens, who is fluent in English, and whose connection to the fight is unknown, for some reason delivers his remarks in French, which comes across as a directorial decision to introduce an unnecessary, exotic layer to the film. | |||
''Soul Power'' was the original project ''When We Were Kings'' director Leon Gast hoped to complete when he went to Africa. Segments of the music performances by James Brown, B.B. King, The Spinners, and Miriam Makeba did make it into ''When We Were Kings'' and also serve as the soundtrack for interesting B-roll footage. Many of the performances appear to be from rehearsals, with the performers enjoying themselves among one another rather than playing to an audience. No trace of an audience, in fact, is ever shown. Neither are any of the many African performers, with the unfortunate exception of Miriam Makeba. | |||
. . . | . . . | ||
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| « | The Mailer Review • Volume 13 Number 1 • 2019 | » |
Featuring Muhammad Ali, George Foreman
With Norman Mailer, George Plimpton
The Criterion Collection, 2019, $35.00
| “ | In the ring, genius is transcendent moxie—the audacity to know that what usually does not work, or is too dangerous to attempt, can, in a special case, prove the winning move. Maybe that is why attempts are made from time to time to compare boxing with chess—the best move can lie very close to the worst move. At Ali’s level, you had to be ready to die, then, for your best ideas.[1] | ” |
In the fall of 1974, eight days before George Foreman was expected to annihilate Muhammad Ali in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire, Foreman suffered a cut over the eye while sparring. His trainer, Dick Sadler, closed the cut, which would require eleven stitches, with a butterfly bandage.[2]
The so-called Butterfly Effect might have just as well taken its name from boxing, rather than chaos theory, and, in popular culture, Ray Bradbury’s 1952 science fiction story, “A Sound of Thunder.” The basic concept is that small causes may have momentous effects. In Bradbury’s tale, a time traveler goes back to the age of dinosaurs, accidentally steps on a butterfly, and returns to find his world irreparably changed—and not for the better.[3] In the boxing example, one of the results was the documentary When We Were Kings, which would not have been produced but for Foreman’s cut and the rescheduling of the heavyweight Championship of the World for five weeks later.
Criterion has released a Blu-Ray DVD of When We Were Kings. Norman Mailer and George Plimpton, along with Spike Lee, Ali Biographer Thomas Hauser, and actor Malik Bowens provide sometimes-valuable commentary in studio interviews recorded twenty years after the fight. The big bonus in the Blu-Ray version is the inclusion of Soul Power, a documentary of the Zaire 74 music festival associated with the fight. When We Were Kings is the perfect companion to Mailer’s short-but-compelling classic, The Fight. The movie received an Academy Award in 1997 for Best Documentary, along with numerous other accolades. Coincidentally, six years after presenting the Oscar to director Leon Gast, actor Will Smith was cast to play Muhammad Ali in the biopic.
Mailer’s presence in the documentary is indispensable. Even though some of his contentions are based on hearsay, his tone is authoritative, and, as always when on camera, he’s simply entertaining. His account of the fight itself, like his written account, is precise and accurate. Plimpton, who was also in Zaire, has drawn criticism for some of his conjectures, and will from this reviewer a little further on. Spike Lee, who was a teenager at the time of the fight, deadpans a few Ali truisms, which add little to the film, and Malik Bowens’ presence feels entirely gratuitous. Bowens, who is fluent in English, and whose connection to the fight is unknown, for some reason delivers his remarks in French, which comes across as a directorial decision to introduce an unnecessary, exotic layer to the film.
Soul Power was the original project When We Were Kings director Leon Gast hoped to complete when he went to Africa. Segments of the music performances by James Brown, B.B. King, The Spinners, and Miriam Makeba did make it into When We Were Kings and also serve as the soundtrack for interesting B-roll footage. Many of the performances appear to be from rehearsals, with the performers enjoying themselves among one another rather than playing to an audience. No trace of an audience, in fact, is ever shown. Neither are any of the many African performers, with the unfortunate exception of Miriam Makeba.
. . .
References
- ↑ Sipiora 2013, pp. 500–501.
- ↑ Dundee & Sugar 2008, p. 177.
- ↑ Bradbury 2005, p. 236.
Works Cited
- Bradbury, Ray (2005). A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories. William Morrow.
- Dundee, Angelo; Sugar, Bert R. (2008). My View From The Corner: A Life In Boxing. New York: McGraw Hill.
- Sipiora, Phillip (2013). Mind of an Outlaw: Selected Essays. New York: Random House.
