Ali-Viewed July 22, 2002

I like Muhammad Ali.  I don't know if he was the best boxer of all time, but he was a great boxer.  I like Will Smith.  As a matter of fact I once met him at lunch.  And I like Director Michael Mann.  I loved his "Last of the Mohicans" and I loved the way Miami Vice looked.  I did not like this movie. I had very high hopes because I remember watching Ali fight.  Man was he great.  Dad used to say, "Pound for pound Sugar Ray Robinson was the best fighter."  But he admitted Ali was great.  And I loved Ali's mouth; what a smart aleck. Back in the olden days, you had to wait for the fight to be broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports about six weeks after the fight.  Unless of course you went to a stadium to watch it.  The day's of HBO were just starting. I like Will Smith.  Did you see him in "Six Degrees of Separation" ?  Wow. What a performance.  Plus it spawned a game with Kevin Bacon in it.  Now that's ancillary movie deals.  Just on that movie alone I like Will Smith.  But he was great in Men in Black.  I didn't see Wild Wild West and I didn't see Independence Day.  But I like the way he always sings a song in one of his movies (Madonna tries to do the same), even if I don't like the song. And I met Will Smith!! I was walking during lunch time and saw my sister-in-law (SIL) eating at an outdoor dafe.  I said hello.  She said hello.  She introduced her lunch companions: Jane Doe, Joe Blow and Will Smith.  So I'm thinking, Will Smith: DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith; The Fresh Prince of BelAir; Six Degrees of Separation.  Will Smith.  Tall, black guy.

But the guy she is with is a plumpish white guy.  So I'm thinking, "White/black, short/tall, plump/thin."  And I remember they say you always look fatter on TV so I say, "I've know that name.  You look bigger on TV."  Well everyone looks at me like I'm from Mars.  To this day I think it was pretty funny. I get home that night and tell the Mrs.  She looks at me like I'm from Mars.  "I can't believe you said that.  That was Will Smith."  I know it was Will Smith, it was funny.  No, she says, that was Will Smith.  Right.  Will Smith.  NO She says, that was William Kennedy Smith.  Well paint me embarrassed.  It sure was William Kennedy Smith, fresh from his acquittal on the nationally televised rape trial.  Oh well. The SIL was equally embarrassed and shocked I said such a thing.  She says he got comments like that all the time.

So I like Will Smith.  Great Actor.  Seems like the All American Man.  The new Cary Grant.  And William Kennedy Smith seems like a nice guy also, but I didn't watch enough of the rape trial so I can not judge him as an actor.  But he was acquitted, so he's probably pretty good.

And I like the director, Michael Mann.  He directed Last of the Mohicans.  A beautiful movie.  Just pretty to look at.  Kind of like The Year of Living Dangerously.  Beautiful to look at.  And the soundtrack to Mohicans (and Dangerously) was great.  Watching a Mann film is like watching a really good MTV video.  As a matter of fact he directed the long-running MTV series Miami Vice.  (Well maybe it wasn't MTV, but it had a great soundtrack, bad acting, and looked great).

Miami Vice spawned a whole new fashion movement, made Jan Hammer popular and proved conclusively that most rock stars can't act.  Why many of them can't sing either.

So Ali had everything going for it.  But it was slow.  Slow slow slow. I kept wanting it to pick up the pace, like an MTV video.  Like Men in Black.  But no. It just kept going slow. If you really want to watch a great movie about Ali go rent "When We Were Kings."  It's a documentary about the Ali/Foreman fight.  The Rumble in the Jungle.  This is the fight that ends the Ali movie, but the sole focus on "When We Were Kings."  Go see it, not Ali.

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