CINEMA: LONG LIVE THE KING

A DOCUMENTARY, SHOT IN 1974 AND JUST RELEASED, SHOWS MUHAMMAD ALI THE ATHLETE AND THE HERO

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King, Mailer and Plimpton stand out in the film's rich supporting cast. But two other characters hover above When We Were Kings like the Ghosts of Kinshasa Future: the Foreman and Ali of today. One became a preacher and found a rich comic voice that has finally made him an endearing figure in sports. The other is afflicted with Parkinson's syndrome, his grace palsied, his old raffish rhetoric muted. The King is a physical pauper now, and at his sight we age and ache. His mind, however, is not so impaired, nor is his taste for raillery. Ali recently saw the film and phoned Gast to express his appreciation. The champ also said he remembered Gast: "You're the skinny, ugly guy that was with us in Africa."

The film's title is rueful. Ali proved that athletes could be kings then; today they are often multimillionaires who behave like kids with a mean streak of attention deficit disorder. Some are naughty and nuts, like Dennis Rodman, and are rewarded with fat contracts by sneaker companies. Even the best pros display their worth mostly by avoiding trouble. Ali was different; he found a gospel and lived by it, whatever the cost to his reputation or to the job that he so loved. When We Were Kings recalls a time, not so long ago, when an athlete could be a renegade hero, not of the self but of the soul.

--With reporting by David E. Thigpen/New York

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