The Greatest (1977)

Redundant and unnecessary.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

In 1977 Mohammad Ali wasn't only a boxing champion, he was a personality. His confidence and poetic rants made people smile, sometimes in disbelief. So they decided to, instead of creating a documentary, allow him to star, as himself, in a film covering his lean hungry youth - when he went by the name Cassius Clay - to his rise as "the greatest boxer in the world".Another somewhat dependable actor plays a teenage Ali but then we switch to the real thing much too soon. When this was shot, Ali was a man who seemed mellow and tired: at the end of his game. An iconic millionaire playing a hungry climber is not only misplaced, but at times downright embarrassing. While he does have a graceful, laid-back charm, and it's fun seeing him interact with real actors like Ernest Borgnine and Robert Duvall, the film's cutting from excerpts of actual fights back to the movie-at-hand is preposterously contrived.This Ali's personal propaganda for his Muslim faith and the hardships against the white man, all played out like something you'd see on television but without a lean young actor, much needed to capture the intensity attempted herein.And the last fifteen minutes, as Ali jogs to a Bill Conti-like score before the final bout, it's obvious that without Sly Stallone's blockbuster the year before, this probably would never have been made: at least not in this fashion.

9?¬9?est (1977) was a bio-pic that starred Muhammed Ali as himself. This film was based upon a biography that was titled the same as the movie. Who else could portray the "Greatest of All Time" other than the man himself. The movie follows Ali from when he was known as Cassius Clay, winning the boxing gold medal, winning the World's Heavyweight Boxing title from Sonny Liston, refusing to be inducted into the military because of his deep religious beliefs and so on. How far does the film go into his life? You'll have to find out when you watch THE GREATEST!!I felt that Ali did a good job of portraying himself. I can't see any other person being able of doing the job. ALI, the movie just didn't do the man justice. It was filled with a lot of flaws and omissions. THE GREATEST may not be the best movie around, but if you want to see the man in all of his glory then you have to watch this movie. It was a real hoot to see Ali running his famous "Louisville Lip" and it was also nice to see Ali's inner circle of friends and confidants live and up close. I enjoyed this film much more than the overrated ALI.Recommended for boxing fans.

I said several months ago that no one could play Ali except Ali. I was right. Muhammad Ali does a magnificent job playing himself in this movie. Maybe he's no actor, but in this case he accomplished what he set out to do, and he had several really effective scenes, such as when he explained why he didn't want to go to Vietnam, and the scene where Clay demanded that he no longer be called by that slave name.This was the third film (as opposed to documentary) that I saw on the life of the great boxer. David Ramsey did an okay job in the first one, and Will Smith tried his best but didn't quite capture the champ as only the champ could. Smith may have been the best actor out of the three, and certainly his film was the best.Chip McAllister made young Cassius Clay too much of a clown. He was okay, I guess, but the portrayal of the character improved dramatically at one point, and I also noticed the actor looked so much more like Clay. That's when I remembered: Ali himself was playing the character.Ernest Borgnine did a capable job as Ali's trainer, but this was not one of his best performances. James Earl Jones did a fine job as Malcolm X, brief as the performance was.I learned a few new details about Ali's life I didn't know before. I also found out that 'The Greatest Love of All' was written long before Whitney Houston made it a hit. The main reason for watching this movie was Ali himself. He was the greatest.

I am a big fan of Muhammad Ali. I am a HUGE fan of Muhammad Ali. I WANT to like this movie. But I can't. Ali is a horrible actor, simply terrible. And playing himself was a bad idea; it's like the old saying `the man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.' Here, the man who plays himself in a biographic film of himself looks like a fool. Some of the worst scenes are the 1977 version of Ali playing the young Casius Clay. He appears rather, well, OLD for the part. Where was Will Smith when we needed him? Hiding from this dog in his mother's ovaries apparently. If you are a big fan of Ali's as I am, I recommend avoiding this film if you wish to remain a fan of his. Leave the room if you have to, box your way to the remote control, get it off your TV or leave the house yourself. Ali truly was the greatest. But this movie is not the greatest or even greater than any other flick I can recall. Even the legendary 'The Crawling Hand' of 'crawl back to bed and forget it' fame is better than this movie. So please, don't watch this bomb as I did; crawl back to bed and forget it.