When We Were Kings Page #7

Synopsis: It's 1974, Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the Heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a backer in Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set. A musical festival, featuring the America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King, is also planned.
Director(s): Leon Gast
Production: Gramercy Pictures
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 5 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.0
Metacritic:
83
Rotten Tomatoes:
98%
PG
Year:
1996
88 min
1,078 Views


Look at the stare on Foreman.

Look at Ali give him the word.

The stage is set, we're just about

ready to begin round one.

The championship is at stake

and $5 million will be paid

to both fighters.

Ali ready, Foreman ready,

we're waiting for the bell.

Here we go,

Ali quickly across the ring.

Round one, Ali bouncing around,

shifting left to right.

George moves slow,

Ali gets the first punch in,

a light right-hand taken

on the forehead by the champion.

Foreman moving slow, stalking.

Ali looks like he's ready to go here.

He's not staying away,

he's going after his man.

Foreman cautious in the first round,

looking to drop that left hook.

Foreman's locked his man

to the far corner.

There's that left upper-cut

into the body of Muhammad Ali.

Ali tries to hang on

to the head of George Foreman.

Foreman dances...

Ali with a right-hand lead!

Has Foreman slightly confused

with that right-hand lead,

which I haven't seen

too many times before.

A right-hand lead, where you throw

your right without countering,

you throw it first, like a jab.

That has to travel that extra

distance across the shoulders.

'Professionals rarely use this

because it's so dangerous to throw

'since you are open to a left hook.

'Since fighters work in milliseconds

'they can see a right coming

much faster than a jab.'

Nobody had thrown a right-hand lead

at Foreman in two years,

and none of his sparring partners,

for $50 a day,

was going to start

throwing right-hand leads at him

because it's a great insult

to a top professional.

'It suggests he's slow enough

that you can hit him with it.'

'Instead Ali figured out Foreman's

not expecting a right-hand lead.

'"I'm gonna hit him with a right hand

and knock him out."

'Ali threw 12 right hand leads, he

hadn't told anybody he was going to.'

He may have debated whether to

up until the last moment.

But he didn't knock Foreman down

or knock him out.

Instead, Foreman went crazy.

That punch

did no damage. That one did!

Two wild right hands

taken on the head of Ali!

A real strong right hand

just underneath the heart.

Ali is taking some punishment now!

Eight seconds left in the round.

Bell rang.

Ali went back to the corner...

Finally the nightmare

he'd been awaiting in the ring

had finally come to visit him.

'He was in the ring

with a man he could not dominate,

'who was stronger than him,

who was not afraid of him,

'who'd try to knock him out,

and who punched harder than Ali,

'and this man was determined

and unstoppable.

'Ali had a look on his face

that I'll never forget.

'It was the only time

I ever saw fear in Ali's eyes.'

Ali looked as if

he looked into himself and said,

"All right, this is the moment.

"This is what

you've been waiting for.

"This is...that hour.

"Do you have the guts?"

And he kind of nodded,

like, "Really got

to get it together, boy.

"You are gonna get it together...

you WILL get it together."

He nodded some more, as if he were

looking into the eyes of his maker,

and then turned to the crowd

and went "Ali, boma ye!"

and 100,000 people

all yelled back "Ali, boma ye!"

And this huge reverberation

of the crowd came back into the ring.

'Ali picked it up as if

"these are my people,

'"this is what I'm here for.

'"The time has come, I'm gonna find

a way to master this man."'

Ali tries

to tie him up.

No real damage done in that exchange.

'Foreman, like everyone,

had assumed that Ali would dance,

'and so Ali now went to the ropes

and went into the Rope-a-Dope.

'And a lot of people thought

that moment the fight was over.

'Especially on TV, it looked like

Foreman was killing a very weak Ali.'

You don't go to the ropes.

And there he was, leaning way back.

'I wrote about it, like a man

leaning out of his window

'trying to see

if there's something on his roof.'

And, you know, taking it.

Here were these great broadsides

and it looked like

he was being set up for the kill.

It happened so quickly

and so abruptly,

that I said, I shouted to Norman,

"The fix is in."

'He's supposed to go down

in the first or second.

'Ropes is halfway house

to the floor.'

'It just looked as though

he had to cave in.'

..some awkward but

very powerful hooks with both hands.

'They became so basic that

they were like two kids fighting.'

'For that round and the next round

and the next round

'Ali lay against the ropes,

and he kept talking to Foreman.

'It was extraordinary.

'You had to be close to see it.'

'And Foreman was throwing

these prodigious punches

'and Ali swung

like a man in the rigging.'

He'd go all the way back,

he'd slide out like that.

Occasionally, he'd get hit and he'd

say "George, you disappoint me.

"You don't hit as hard

as I thought you would, George,

"you're not breaking popcorn!"

'And Foreman's insane with rage,

'wanging at him and wanging at him,

'powerful, powerful, powerful.

'And middle of the fifth round

Foreman had punched himself out.

'It had taken three rounds.'

Ali picks it up,

First good combination by Ali

lands on the head of Foreman.

Foreman with that right hook.

Ali scores a hook!

Quick jab with the right

backs up Foreman!

Backs him up in his tracks!

Foreman tries the hook!

Ali goes to the right!

Foreman gets knocked to the left!

Foreman hit again!

Foreman has been hit

three or four times!

Ali came off the ropes

and hit him a right

and you can see the sweat pour off

like a fountain off Foreman's face

and you suddenly realised

there was design in this madness.

So I turned to Norman,

he was somewhat puzzled,

but I said,

"The succubus has got him!",

referring to this woman

with the trembling hands

that the witch doctors had said

would touch Foreman and destroy him.

..Ali's tactics,

to let the man punch himself out.

Very even fight.

Ali a sneaky right hand.

Another sneaky right hand.

Works over the shoulder of Foreman.

There's the combination!

Two...three...

Four...five...

Foreman gets up to the knee at eight!

That's it! The fight is stopped!

Muhammad Ali with

a dramatic eighth round knockout!

He knocks out...George Foreman!

He's done it! Muhammad Ali

has done it! Muhammad Ali has...

Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali...

'Muhammad Ali,

he was like a sleeping elephant.

'You can do whatever you want

around a sleeping elephant,

'but when he wakes up...

he tramples everything.'

Muhammad Ali, boma ye.

Boma ye. Muhammad Ali,

boma ye George Foreman.

He did it.

'He's champion again,

we couldn't believe it.

'It was such a classic performance

and so beautiful

'that at the moment

Ali hit the knockout punch,

'Foreman began to go,

Ali followed him around,

'Ali had his right cocked

for one more punch

'but he never threw it,

'as though he didn't want to ruin the

aesthetic of this man going down.'

One has mixed emotions

when you see the end of a fight.

'I always feel sympathy

for the man losing it,

'particularly when you see

a titanic, formidable figure

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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