The film, which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is not exactly a boxing movie, but it's definitely worth your full attention because it gives us a much better look at Ali's biggest match – his fight with the US government!
Stephen Frears directed the movie from a script written by Shawn Slovo, which revolves around the politics and hubris surrounding the Vietnam War and the revenge exacted on America's greatest sportsman of the 20th century because he refused to fight in that war.
When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his principled claim to conscientious objector status on religious grounds led to a lengthy legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court in the land. Justice Harlan, a respected jurist with 15 years on the Court, finds himself at odds with the Court's status quo – as defined by Nixon appointee Chief Justice Burger – after his perspective is challenged by the contemporary ideals of his new clerk.
One thing is for sure – this time, the twice Oscar-nominated director Frears gives us an awesome look at Muhammad Ali's historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. Or, as he explained:
“For the first time, I fully understood the injustice that was done to him when he wasn't allowed to fight for three and a half years and had his passport taken away. He was sort of ruined.”
The movie stars Christopher Plummer, Frank Langella, Benjamin Walker, Ed Begley Jr., Peter Gerety, Barry Levinson, John Bedford Lloyd, Fritz Weaver, Harris Yulin, Pablo Schreiber, Ben Steinfeld and Dana Ivey.
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight will premiere on HBO this fall.
