"What's My Name: Muhammad Ali" (2019 release; 2 parts; 162 min.) is a two part TC documentary about Muhammad Ali's illustrious career, both in boxing and outside of that. As Part 1 opens, we hear Ali getting ready for a fight, as told in his own words. We are "March 8, 1971" at Madison Square Garden, for the "fight of the century". We then go back in time, to then-Cassius Clay's early days growing up in Louisville, and quickly establishing himself as a strong boxing presence, leading up to the 1960 Olympic Games, where he obtains the gold medal. At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by none other than Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day"), and executive-produced by LeBron James, among others. Very early in his career Cassius Clay earned the nickname "Bigmouth" from the Cubans when he was training in Miami Beach right after the 1960 Olympics, and that nickname was meant as a gesture of respect and/or admiration, and it made the task of the film makers immensely easier as frankly all they needed to do was to collect audio and video clips of Clay's/Ali's many, many, MANY public appearances over the decades, and he'll tell the story himself. Which is exactly what this documentary does: it's mostly Ali's own telling. Some of these clips are well known, others not so much. Watch for the many astute racial commentaries that Ali makes, using clever wordsmithing (at one point Ali comments about the use of the word "blackmail", and why is isn't "whitemail"). Even at a running time of over 2 1/2 hrs., this clips by in no time, as we get to witness one of the most iconic sport stories ever, along with a good dose of social and civil rights history. Part 1 (which runs through March 8, 1971) is clearly the better half of the documentary, mixing the sports and social/civil rights aspects brilliantly. Part 2 focuses mainly on the last decade of his boxing career, almost to the exclusion of everything else, and finishing up with a career record of 56-5. Just think of how many more wins Ali would've surely racked up had he not been banned from boxing for three years (1967-70) just as he was in the very peak of his boxing career! This documentary is enjoyable from start to finish, even if there are few if any "new" revelations of course some of this has already been covered before (see for example "Ali & Cavett: The Tale Of the Tapes" from earlier this year).
"What's My Name" Muhammad Ali" premiered last year on HBO. In the current COVID-19 pandemic I've been catching up on various TV shows and documentaries that I somehow missed when they originally aired. I just watched this on HBO On Demand the other night. So glad that I found this documentary. If you have any interest in Muhammad Ali and/or the social and civil rights environment of this country in the 60s and 70s, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
