When We Were Kings

I read about the boxing documentary When We Were Kings in J. Michael Lennon's recent biography of Norman Mailer, Norman Mailer: A Double Life--

Released in February 1997, the film won several awards, including the Academy Award for best documentary. It is generally thought to be the finest documentary ever made on boxing and is linked permanently with Mailer's The Fight, often named as the best nonfiction narrative on a prizefight.

The movie is available on Netflix, but it's also on YouTube. I watched it this afternoon and it lived up to Lennon's description. I don't know how I missed it when it first came out, but I did. Those with an interest in boxing or Muhammad Ali should check it out.

 

Lennon's biography of Mailer is also recommended. Readers of the Legal Underground with a long memory might recall I once discussed trial lawyers and sushi with Norman Mailer at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. I wrote about that meeting here: "Are You Open-Minded Enough for Norman Mailer on Iraq?", a post that I also collected in my book, How to Feed a Lawyer (and Other Irreverent Observations from the Legal Underground.)