Whatcha all think of this movie with Ali and Cus D' Amato? I have it on dvd, havent' watched it in awhile. I like the Ali vs Joe Louis arguments, and the sparring between Ali and Cus.
I liked it. The first decent boxing film I was able to program record off the TV - around the mid to early 80s - lucky to see it in the guide, playing at some ungodly hour like 3 am. Richard Kiley as the narrator also added a nice dimension to the overall treatment.
I almost forgot Richard Kiley, he was the Nazi war criminal in the Night Gallery Pilot story The Escape Route, Gruppenfuehrer Joseph Strobe, a monster who wanted to be a fisherman and ended up on a cross.
As the OP already mentioned, the interactions and dynamic between Ali and D’Amato were excellent. Cus was very impressed with himself when he managed to “touch” Ali’s lip in their playful sparring. Ali also made me laugh when he noted that Cus was being all so serious when Cus immediately assumed his boxing stance, ready to spar. Laughing, Ali said something like “You gotta remember, I’m not in shape” and then patted his belly. Also, when Cus demonstrated his remedy to the “Ali shuffle”(a simple straight left to the body) Ali said “You’re not as dumb as you look”. Lol. Not to say they got on like a house on fire but I saw definite respect between the two men. Quite rare to have seen them paired together and talking like that - we are very lucky.
All had enormous respect for Cus. He sought his advice before fighting George Foreman. Cus told him Foreman is a bully. You need to sock him and earn his respect.
Great movie, loved the banter: Cus (teasing): “I’m going to provoke you, Mr Champion - I’m going to provoke you into throwing a punch and I’ll collect one million dollars!” Ali: “Who’s gonna cash the check, your beneficiary?”
