When We Were Kings

Review and Commentary

Authors

  • Bill Lowenburg Author

Keywords:

documentary film, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Rumble in the Jungle, boxing, Leon Gast

Abstract

Bill Lowenburg reviews the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray special edition of When We Were Kings, Leon Gast’s Academy Award–winning documentary of the 1974 Ali–Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle,” which also includes the concert film Soul Power. Lowenburg judges Mailer’s on-camera commentary indispensable and his account of the fight precise, but faults George Plimpton’s conjectures and the film’s recurring “succubus” motif, insisting that boxing skill, not hoodoo, won the bout. Drawing on boxing histories and an interview with photographer Neil Leifer, he supplies extended context on Don King, Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire, Angelo Dundee and the ring ropes, Ali’s rope-a-dope, and Foreman’s later life.

Author Biography

  • Bill Lowenburg

    Bill Lowenburg is a three-time scholarship recipient from the Norman Mailer Writing Center. He is the author of a novel, The Zorki Chronicles,and a photography monograph, Crash Burn Love. His photographs and articles have been published in BBC Top Gear, London Telegraph, Popular Photography, PBS Point of View, and numerous other journals and websites. He was also a research assistant to Michael Lennon for Norman Mailer: A Double Life. He received his boxing education serving as a sparring partner and assistant trainer for Larry Holmes’ original trainer, Earnee Butler. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University and has recently retired following a 37-year career as a teacher and librarian.

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Published

2019-10-10

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2019)

Section

Book Reviews

How to Cite

Lowenburg, Bill. “When We Were Kings: Review and Commentary”. The Mailer Review, vol. 13, no. 1, Oct. 2019, pp. 208–224, https://mailerreview.org/journal/article/view/699.