The Mailer Review/Volume 13, 2019/When We Were Kings: Review and Commentary: Difference between revisions
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“In the ring, genius is transcendent moxie—the audacity to know that what usually does not work, or is too dangerous to at- tempt, 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.” | “In the ring, genius is transcendent moxie—the audacity to know that what usually does not work, or is too dangerous to at- tempt, 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.” | ||
—Norman Mailer, “The Best Move Lies Close to the Worst” | —Norman Mailer, “The Best Move Lies Close to the Worst” | ||
IN THE FALL OF , 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 | IN THE FALL OF , 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.{{sfn|Dundee|p=177}} | ||
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 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 | 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 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 | ||
THE MAILER REVIEW, VOL. ,NO. ,FALL .Copyright©.TheNormanMailer Society. Published by The Norman Mailer Society. | THE MAILER REVIEW, VOL. ,NO. ,FALL .Copyright©.TheNormanMailer Society. Published by The Norman Mailer Society. | ||
goes back to the age of dinosaurs, accidentally steps on a butterfly, and re- turns to find his world irreparably changed–-and not for the better | goes back to the age of dinosaurs, accidentally steps on a butterfly, and re- turns to find his world irreparably changed–-and not for the better.{{sfn|Bradbury|1952|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 Fore- man’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 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 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. | 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 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 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 al- ways when on camera, he’s simply entertaining. His account of the fight it- self, 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. | Mailer’s presence in the documentary is indispensable. Even though some of his contentions are based on hearsay, his tone is authoritative, and, as al- ways when on camera, he’s simply entertaining. His account of the fight it- self, 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. | ||
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The fact that When We Were Kings was ever completed and released in —more than twenty years after the fight—is a tribute to the persever- ance of director Leon Gast. An entire book could be written about the legal and logistical rigamarole required to recover the exposed film, edit it, arrange for music rights, add additional interviews, and finance what eventually be- came the movie. | The fact that When We Were Kings was ever completed and released in —more than twenty years after the fight—is a tribute to the persever- ance of director Leon Gast. An entire book could be written about the legal and logistical rigamarole required to recover the exposed film, edit it, arrange for music rights, add additional interviews, and finance what eventually be- came the movie. | ||
According to the Yale Film Archive, Gast was originally hired by promoter Don King to make a concert film of the Zaire music festival, which was scheduled to be held along with the boxing match. His crew shot the festi- val, but then came Foreman’s cut and the crew was not allowed to leave the country. Perhaps sensing a great opportunity, Gast had them document the weeks leading up to the fight and we are all the richer for it today (Yale). | According to the Yale Film Archive, Gast was originally hired by promoter Don King to make a concert film of the Zaire music festival, which was scheduled to be held along with the boxing match. His crew shot the festi- val, but then came Foreman’s cut and the crew was not allowed to leave the country. Perhaps sensing a great opportunity, Gast had them document the weeks leading up to the fight and we are all the richer for it today (Yale). | ||
The perceptive, business-minded, and ever-mischievous Muhammad Ali may have precipitated all of this. Soon after learning of Foreman’s sparring injury, he called a press conference and said, “I appeal to the President to not let anybody connected with the fight out of the country. Be careful. George might sneak out at night. Watch the airports. Watch the train sta- tions. Watch the elephant trails. Send boats to patrol the rivers. Check all the luggage big enough for a big man to crawl into. Do whatever you have to do, Mr. President, but don’t let George leave the country. He’ll never come back if you let him out . . . Because he knows I can’t lose!” To this he added, “These are my people, and I ain’t leaving!” | The perceptive, business-minded, and ever-mischievous Muhammad Ali may have precipitated all of this. Soon after learning of Foreman’s sparring injury, he called a press conference and said, “I appeal to the President to not let anybody connected with the fight out of the country. Be careful. George might sneak out at night. Watch the airports. Watch the train sta- tions. Watch the elephant trails. Send boats to patrol the rivers. Check all the luggage big enough for a big man to crawl into. Do whatever you have to do, Mr. President, but don’t let George leave the country. He’ll never come back if you let him out . . . Because he knows I can’t lose!” To this he added, “These are my people, and I ain’t leaving!”{{sfn|Dundee|p=177}} | ||
Foreman, in fact, would have liked nothing better than to return home. “I was miserable in Zaire,” he recalled. “My first quarters were at an old army base infested with rats, lizards, and insects. Surrounded by cyclone fencing and barbed wire, it was patrolled and inhabited by rowdy soldiers” | Foreman, in fact, would have liked nothing better than to return home. “I was miserable in Zaire,” he recalled. “My first quarters were at an old army base infested with rats, lizards, and insects. Surrounded by cyclone fencing and barbed wire, it was patrolled and inhabited by rowdy soldiers”.{{sfn|Goldstein|p=108}} Foreman had hoped to go to Paris for medical attention and then have the fight rescheduled to take place in the United States. However, soon | ||
after Ali’s remarks, President Sele Seke Mobutu, who had ostensibly put up ten million dollars to have Zaire host the fight, took Ali’s advice and unof- ficially sealed the borders. | after Ali’s remarks, President Sele Seke Mobutu, who had ostensibly put up ten million dollars to have Zaire host the fight, took Ali’s advice and unof- ficially sealed the borders. | ||