Mike Tyson, l'histoire de sa vie

The movie "Tyson" chronicles Mike Tyson's life as a 12 year old boy, with 38 arrests to his credit,in Brooklyn to the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. It was fame and fortune more then the mean streets of Bronsville Brooklyn that lead to Tyson's downfall that eroded his talents in the ring and civility out of it. Tyson after being taken under the wings of "Trainer of Champions" Cus D'Amato who fine tuned his talents as a boxer as well has gave him, with Cus's wife, a family passed away leaving Tyson alone and open to be exploited by wannabe shysters like boxing promoter Don King as well as gold diggers like his first wife Robin Givens and her Moma Ruth Roper. By the time they got through with Mike he not only ended up losing his title , "The Baddest Man on the Planet Earth", as world heavyweight champion but most of his estimated hundreds of millions he won in the ring.

The knock-out punch that really did Tyson in was his conviction of raping 18 year old Miss African American contestant Desiree Washington whom many people who followed the trail feel Tyson was innocent of. We get to see a shy and at the same time out of control Mike Tyson turn his life around for the better with the help of his surrogate father Cus D'Amato who taught him to keep his aggressions in not out of the ring. It was Cus' death that left Tyson open to all the troubles that was to haunt him all his professional and personal life. Becoming the youngest man to win the heavyweight crown at the age of 20 by knocking out Trevor Berbick in the 2nd round on November 22, 1986 in Las Vages Tyson was unstoppable in the ring successfully defending his crown nine times. That's until he met journeyman boxer Buster Douglas in Tokyo Japan in early 1990. A 40 to 1 long-shot Duglas busted Tyson up for 9 rounds and in the 10th knocked him on queer street taking the title away from him. The fact that Tyson, who was drinking and partying instead of training for the fight, and his off the books manager Don King never took Douglas seriously was the main reason for his shocking defeat.

Just when Tyson was on his way to regain his lost heavyweight crown him becoming a judge in the Miss African American contest in Indiana ended up in a worst disaster then his loss to Douglas. Accused of rape by Miss Washington and standing trail it seemed that Tyson's reputation more then the evidence, that everyone felt was flimsy, that convicted him. Now in the spring of 1995 a convicted rapist and registered sex offender Tyson is given a second or is it third chance to regain his champion belt is where the movie ends.

The film Tyson to its credit shows Mike Tyson as a both troubled youth and man who's life suffered mostly from those who exploited his talents and money for their, not his, own personal gain. Still we can't excuse Tayson for his life of crime, mostly as a youth, and violence since he had everything going for him and ended up blowing it. And with that he blew his chance of possibly being the greatest heavyweight, topping the likes of Ali Marciano Dempsey and Joe Louis,champion in boxing history.

TYSON

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Stereo

Reverent - though scrupulously fair - account of the life and times of champion boxer Mike Tyson. Given his conviction on a rape charge, the film is careful not to portray him as hero or villain, but paints a warts-and-all portrait of his rise to fame, the pressures of success, and the people who shaped his destiny for good or bad. Constrained by time limits, the script gallops through a succession of relevant details, alighting briefly on significant events, culminating with Tyson's (temporary) downfall in 1995. Novices will be enlightened by the chronology, while boxing fans will be entertained by director Uli Edel's straight-arrow approach to the material. He portrays Tyson's life as a circus in which he was ultimately led astray by the circumstances of his own success. In fact, the script reserves most of its venom for Tyson's ex-wife Robin Givens, characterising her as an ungrateful gold-digger who took advantage of his naivety. Production values are uniformly solid and the cast is superb: Michael Jai White does a fair imitation of the title character; George C. Scott plays Tyson's mentor Cus D'Amato through acres of gritted teeth; and Paul Winfield was surely born to play Don King!

I do feel a bit sad at the former champion's situation, and how he was led astray by fame and Wealth. It is a point,that if we desire to achieve greatness,we have to earn it by work.The bars are made by the man,Himself;This confused and misunderstood athlete is only to blame, because He refuses to change His World,His Life.In the movie, we see his tough exterior is rough,He does not trust or rely on the guidance of others.He does not move forward when tough times arise(such as death of trainer,surrogate mom)

There is an old fable of a "Phoenix rising out of the ashes it dwells in".As a role model for children, celebrities must dwell on past mistakes and learn what Society requires of them.I believe how they achieve a reputable name, is based on the impressions of others.

This 1995 made for TV. HBO original movie chronicles Tyson's discovery by Cus D' Amato in 1979 in a Catskill, NY Boxing Club to the 1991 alleged rape of a black beauty pageant contestant. And I must say this film is brilliant it has all the highs and lows of Tyson's ferocious career as he destroys the heavyweight ranks and becomes the youngest heavyweight champion ever, also the dispute and problems he had with former trainer and current boxing analyst and trainer Teddy Atlas the film also does a good job of showing Tyson's rage and anger brought on by the deaths of his mother and the legend Cus D' Amato. I am especially glad that this film shows just how much of a gold digger ex-wife actress Robin Givens and her mother really were alot of people blamed Mike for the problems with him and Givens, but this film finally showed how manipulative Robin really was. And the crushing defeat to Buster Douglas was shown with such realism and Don King is wonderfully depicted as guiding Mike Tyson's career along perfect, finally the film does a great job of leaving the viewer to really have doubts if Mike really commited the rape or not watch and you will see. This movie airs often on the HBO networks you must record this for keep sake if your a boxing fan and followed the career of Tyson simply because of the realism it's like you were really there with Mike for the rise and fall.

This is a made-for-TV flick about Iron Mike. As people have already commented there are several memorable and incredible performances given here. Scott is, to my mind, one of, if not the greatest American actor who lived in the last century. Along with Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Cagney, and today Kevin Spacey. (Yes, I said it, Kevin ranks right up there with the all-time champs. Don't believe me? See the movie he did with Annette Benning and Chris Cooper, then watch the Kaizer Soze flick. Unfortunately it is late and titles are escaping me.....)

So Scott steals the movie cursing and arguing and screaming his lungs out. By the way, after his death, it was rumored that D'Amato had forced Iron Mike to perform oral sex on him when Mike was a young boy under Cus's tutelage. True or not, it would certainly explain a lot....Paul Winfield as Don King is a great match. His performance is much more believable here than Ving Rhames's would be several years later on in "King". Tony LoBianco is good to as Jim Jacobs who for years managed Tyson. Jacobs incidentally was a jack-of-all-trades, winning the US Handball Championship for Men, having the greatest private collection of fight films ever collected, and being an expert on comic books. Talk about your Renaisannce guys. The only weak link is Michael Jai White. He doesn't really capture the caged-animal intensity of Iron Mike during his glory years. Tyson incidentally, should really consider making a film about his own life with actors of his choosing. Overall a good effort by some extremely talented actors.