IF ONE HAS ever been around boxers very much and gotten to know a little about how they form a sort of mini-society or sub-culture of their own, you already know what to expect from this documentary. As competitive, brutal and even 'barbaric' a bout is, the participants seem to have overwhelmingly become a sort of very exclusive fraternity.THERE ARE ALWAYS exceptions to any rule, but by and large, the guys who boxed at the professional level are respectful, modest and quite unaffected by their prowess. They never speak badly of other 'pugs' and prove to be 'just reg'lar guys to the public at large. They have no need to prove their toughness outside of the prize ring.SO IT IS to this exclusive world of former fighters that the production transports us to look back on the career of one Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali. The story is traced from the earliest days as a young promising kid in Louisville, through his amateur successes; which culminated with his victory at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. There he won the Olympic Light Heavyweight title. This left no worlds to conquer in the Simon Pure, amateur boxing. So........IT WAS WITH great anticipation that his entry into the Pros was met. He had already made for himself and the career in the Heavyweight ranks proved to be a meteoric rise toward the top.IT IS THIS ringside observers' recollections that are captured with the extended narrative provided by names like: Joe Frazier, Ernie Terrell, (Sir) Henry Cooper, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, George Chuvalo, Ernie Shavers and Ken Norton. There are many references to his 2 bouts with the late Sonny Liston and many now deceased fighters, such as Jerry Quarry and Floyd Patterson, appear in archival footage.IN THE FINAL analysis, FACING ALI gives us the history of the Clay/Ali career in fisticuffs, told by both opponents and associates who were there as real and true eyeball witnesses. All is revealed to us set against the backdrop of a 1960-70s America which was going through some growing pains with the Civil Rights movement and the very unpopular Vietnam War being waged in micro-managed fashion by the Johnson Administration.WHEN WE ARRIVE at film's end, we feel that we know Ali/Clay just a little bit better and he emerges a much more sympathetic character than our recollections of his earlier legal battles with Uncle Sam & the Selective Service System (Draft Board) than our collective memories had stored up.NOTE: AS SORT OF a sidebar to the story, we recall having heard Ali speak of how he got the idea of being so highly braggadocios about his skills in the ring. He said that he was a guest on a noontime soft news & talk show in LA. Along with him as guest was Pro Wrestler, Gorgeous George; who wasted no time in using the airwaves hype his upcoming match that night. Cassius said that George did such a fine and entertaining a job that even he bought a ticket and was in attendance on that particular evening.

It's often said that it is the villains who make the hero stand out and look good. In this case, Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali (after his conversion to Islam) was one of the greatest heavyweight boxers and a living legend of the sport, unparalleled in his prowess during his peak, having fought the likes of George Foreman and Joe Frazier amongst many others en route to his titles, and achieving an impressive professional record of 56 wins of which 37 are by total knock outs, no draws, and losing 5 times, 4 of which are through the decisions of judges, and 1 by retirement. No prizes for guessing that's the last one.Facing Ali, the documentary by Pete McCormack, brings us through the entire professional career of the man who floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee, and he certainly does. Through stock footage of bouts in the ring across the globe, "thrash talking" prior to games which brings us plenty of quotable quotes, and television interviews, we get to witness, as will others generation after generation, of a man who's the epitome of a fighter, possessing incredible speed in his footwork and dexterity with his punches, a body built to withstand intense punishment as dished out by opponents, with endless stamina to survive 15 rounds and surprising rivals with a sustained spurt of energized barrage of blows toward the end.If you're interested in his life story, then you probably will be better off with biopics like Michael Mann's Ali which starred a bulked up Will Smith in the titular role. Here, we get the profile of the fighter through no less than 10 of his renowned, luminous rivals with whom shared sometimes one, two or even three separate matches throughout his entire career spanning more than two decades. It's full on talking heads, and through the relentless focus on building their back stories and gathering their recollections, thoughts and experiences fighting with The Greatest, we learn more of the man who has earned the respect of his professional peers, and I dare say almost all of whom have some form of reverence in the way the fights of their lives have shaped their personal and professional lives for the better. In many ways, we learn of Ali's immense influence and it is exactly these testimonials that genuinely reinforced his legendary status as the best the sport had ever to offer.But in order to make this a fuller documentary, we also touch on the inevitable milestones in Ali's life, such as the influences on him in terms of politics with Malcolm X and religion through Elijah Muhammad, and how his refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam War since he doesn't have a fight with the Viet Congs, meant being banned and stripped of his title for years. But with stuff of what legends are made of, Ali still showed that he has what he takes as he went on to wrestle the championship back after that long a lay off, not forgetting that age is an inevitable enemy in this brutal contact sport.And with documentaries, you'd almost always learn something new. For me, I've always wondered why boxers or wrestlers tend to prefer hugging their opponents whenever possible. Then it was mentioned in passing that doing so wears out the opponent. And it makes some sense, since the sportsmen weigh quite a bit, and resting that weight on someone else who has to stay on his foot and not buckle under those kilos thrown at him, just tests endurance and muscle strength. Now I know, as do I bear witness through archival footage of Ali in action over the years in one sitting, the strategy Ali takes in beating his opponents, compensating the lack of speed later with sly experience in taking on younger challengers, and how sometimes this sport can be dirty through throwing of games or through managers throwing in the towel, sometimes with good intentions though to discontinue the punishment and damage any athlete can take.Pete McCormack also made the recollections of fights here interesting not only through stock footage but by having more than one of the peers of the time, apart from the fighter involved in the specific fight, share their insights to the same bout under highlight. Under certain circumstances some won't admit to losing until now, especially those who lost to Ali through decisions of judges, so I guess some bruised ego is still in place. And ego is something Ali had in abundance as he adopts a rather arrogant attitude brought into each pre-fight, which you can either call showmanship, or the use of psychology to rile the opponent.It's quite the downer as the film wore on toward the end and the inevitable, where the curtains finally came down on someone's illustrious career, and in some ways the lessons learnt in knowing when to call it quits, though 8 million dollars to make a come back isn't something that everyone can walk away from. Still, McCormack's documentary is paced evenly and builds up the legend in a somewhat different fashion, relying on peers and rivals to pay tribute to one of the greatest sportsman of all time in the boxing arena. Recommended for fans and definitely a great jumping point into knowing more about Muhammad Ali and the sport he excelled in.

It was 1964, I was 14 years old. It seems so long ago - well, it was. I was in the seminary in Subiaco Arkansas listening one night to Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston. It started a love of boxing that lasted a very long time.This film was a blend of talking and boxing. It kept you glued to the screen so you wouldn't miss a word or a moment of action.It was a well balanced film; giving the good and the bad. You gained a real insight into Muhammad Ali, and into those who fought him. A fight with Ali was literally a lifesaver for Ken Norton, who was broke.An excellent documentary about a great man.

Based off the book which was written by Toronto sports writer Stephen Brunt. In the book, he chooses 15 boxers, all of which have faced Ali, some won, some lost. Thankfully, in the movie, we only have to sit through 10 of them.Mr. Brunt's book did everything it could to find important moments of Ali's life. The most notable fighter omission from the book was Leon Spinks. Why wasn't he included? After a relatively exhaustive search, Mr. Brunt couldn't find him. Fortunately for the viewers of the video, Director Pete McCormack found him after months of searching. Spinks had lost his job and was helping at a shelter in the mid-west USA.I had heard about this video a while back but I avoided it until I saw MMA fighter Randy Couture say that he liked it a lot. Only then did I make a point to watch it.Sitting down to watch the screening of the video, I feared that it would be just another glowing, "Ali was the greatest", lovefest for 100 minutes. Fortunately, this was not the case. Most of the fighters interviewed were genuine in their praise, a few were self-serving and one was bitter. Probably from being asked for the umpteenth time how great Ali was.This is an essential video to watch about the life of Mohammed Ali. For those who forget just how fast, how smart and how talented he was as a boxer. For those who only see him now as an over the hill boxer that had too many fights, or as a shell of his former self because of Parkinson's, this video is for you.To know the fear, anxiety, power, rage and humbling experience of stepping into the ring with a truly great fighter, you need to hear it from the people who have done it.