The Greatest (1977)

Directed by

Monte Hellman, Tom Gries

Genre

drama film, biographical film, boxing film

Country

United Kingdom, United States

Runtime

1h 41m

Rated

PG

Rating

5.7 of 10 from 23 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The film chronicles Muhammad Ali's boxing career from his Olympic gold medal win in 1960 through his comeback victory over George Foreman in 1974. Ali plays himself in this biopic that blends dramatized scenes with archival fight footage.

inspiringtriumphantnostalgicdeterminedearnestsports-biopicretro

What happens

The Greatest is a 1977 biographical sports film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali, in which Ali plays himself. It was directed by Tom Gries. The film follows Ali's life from the 1960 Summer Olympics to his regaining the heavyweight crown from George Foreman in their famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight in 1974. The film consists largely of archival footage of Ali's boxing matches used in the screenplay. The film is based on the book The Greatest: My Own Story written by Muhammad Ali and Richard Durham and edited by Toni Morrison. The song "The Greatest Love of All" was written for this film by Michael Masser (music) and Linda Creed (lyrics), and sung by George Benson; it was later covered and made a Billboard Hot 100 #1 single by Whitney Houston. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Ali (2001)
• The Fighters (1974)
• When We Were Kings (1996)
• Muhammad Ali, the Greatest (1974)
• I Am Ali (2014)
• a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970)
• Big George Foreman (2023)
• Ali: An American Hero (2000)