Muhammad Ali

Despite a limited release, Leon Gast's documentary feature When We Were Kings, which chronicles the 1974 Muhammad Ali-George Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle," has won critical and audience acclaim. Namely, the feature has earned approximately 1.5 million dollars as well as an Oscar for the best documentary feature of 1996. Undoubtedly, part of its success is due to America's affection and respect for George Foreman. However, it is even more clear that the major reason for the documentary's success is the mettle of the man who stands at its center, Muhammad Ali.

In his 1991 biography of Muhammad Ali, titled Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, Thomas Hauser calls Ali "the most recognizable person on earth" (Hauser 13). Hauser's description of Ali and his relationship with America and the rest of the world is illustrative of the way many people feel about Ali:

For half a century, he has walked among us, his face as familiar as that of a close friend. Somewhere in time, he captured a blend of mayhem and magic that carried him deep into the collective psyche of us all.

Throughout his career as a boxer, America has alternately loved and hated Muhammad Ali, but there are few today who would disagree that he has been one of the greatest personalities of the twentieth century. The Arts & Entertainment Network certainly would not. It has just declared its own documentary of Ali's life to be one of the ten best Biographies of the century. And the whole

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r. He fought in the ring 108 times, losing only 8 times between 1954-1960 (Diamond 20). He won several Golden Gloves titles in Kentucky, and in 1960 won the national Golden Gloves heavyweight title in New York City. In that year he also won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship. Clay's next goal was to become an Olympic champion in the 1960 games to be held in Rome, Italy (Diamond 20). His activities in Rome's Villaggio Olimpico--the Olympic Village--demonstrated the bluster and gregariousness that would characterize his public appearances thereafter throughout his professional career. Diamond observes that Cassius was probably the most popular athlete in the Village. He spent much time meeting other athletes, shaking their hands, being friendly--and, of course, telling them he was going to be champion of the world. In 1960, he was the Olympic heavyweight champion. Following his victory at the Olympics, Cassius signed a management contract with the Louisville Sponsoring Group. The Group consisted of eleven white men between the ages of twenty-five and seventy, ten of whom were millionaires or heirs to old-line Kentucky fortunes (Hauser 30). Although the contract signed by Clay and cosigned by his parents was fai

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