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When We Were Kings

Year:

1997

Duration:

88 min

Genres:

Documentary | History | Sport

IMDB rate:

Director:

Leon Gast

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 8 wins & 4 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1997-02-14

Filming Locations: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic Of Congo

Earnings

Gross: $2,666,118 (USA) (8 June 1997)

Cast

Actor

Character

Muhammad Ali

Himself

George Foreman

Himself

Don King

Himself

James Brown

Himself

B.B. King

Himself

Mobutu Sese Seko

Himself (President of Zaire)

Spike Lee

Himself

Norman Mailer

Himself - Writer

George Plimpton

Himself - Writer

Thomas Hauser

Himself

Malick Bowens

Himself - Artist (as Malik Bowens)

Lloyd Price

Himself - Concert Promoter

The Spinners

Themselves

Miriam Makeba

Herself

Drew Bundini Brown

Himself - Ali's Ass't Trainer (as Drew 'Bundini' Brown)

Odessa Clay

Herself - Ali's Mother

Howard Cosell

Himself - ABC Sports

Wilton Felder

Himself (as The Crusaders)

Joe Frazier

Himself (archive footage)

Wayne Henderson

Himself (as The Crusaders)

Stix Hooper

Himself (as The Crusaders)

Jim Jacobs

Himself (archive footage)

Stewart Levine

Himself - Festival Producer

Sonny Liston

Himself (archive footage)

Alan Pariser

Himself - Festival Coordinator

Danny 'Big Black' Rey

Himself - Performer (as 'Big Black')

Dick Sadler

Himself - Foreman's manager

Joe Sample

Himself (as The Crusaders)

Philippé Wynne

Himself (as The Spinners)

Zach Clayton

Himself - Referee (archive footage) (uncredited)

Archie Moore

Himself (uncredited)

Ken Norton

Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Jersey Joe Walcott

Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

Though almost all of the footage in this documentary was shot by producer/director Leon Gast in 1974, one reason it took 23 years to complete was because the negative and rights to the film were entangled in civil suits involving the Liberians who financed the movie's making.

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Quotes

Muhammad Ali: It is befitting that I leave the game just like I came in, beating a big bad monster who knocks out everybody and no one can whup him. That's when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky, came up to stop Sonny Liston. The man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice. HE WAS GONNA KILL ME! But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George's. He's a better boxer than George. And I'm better now than I was when you saw that 22-years old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston. I'm experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times, I'm bad! Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator. That's right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That's bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick! I'm so mean I make medicine sick! Don King: Bad dude!