At a Glance

The story of the life and times of the boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

Detailed Information

Acclaimed director Michael Mann (The Insider, Heat, The Last of the Mohicans), delivers a visually arresting portrait of one of the greatest athletes and sporting heroes of all time in Ali. Will Smith portrays a man whose wit and athletic genius, defiant rage and inner grace mirrored one of the most turbulent times in Twentieth Century America. In a screenplay by Eric Roth and Michael Mann, Ali captures the feverish excitement as well as the political unrest between 1964 and 1974, when the then Cassius Clay shocked the world with a triumphant boxing victory, which began his unparalleled reign at the top of the boxing profession. Mann's beautifully crafted film depicts a charismatic Ali, whose grace, speed and power were matched in and out of the ring, as he became a leading civil rights activist, went through three marriages and famously refused to be inducted into the US Army. Will Smith embodies Ali with a familiar ease and is supported by a cast that includes Jamie Foxx as Ali's talisman Drew 'Bundini' Brown; Jon Voight as commentator Howard Cosell; Ron Silver as trainer Angelo Dundee; Jeffrey Wright as the photographer Howard Bingham; Mykelti Williamson as promoter Don King and Mario Van Peebles as the political activist Malcolm X.