When We Were Kings

The intersection of sports, politics and culture enlivens Leon Gast's entertaining documentary about the heavily promoted 1974 heavyweight championship bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, which took place in Zaire. Twenty-two years ago, Ali was a brash, righteous challenger who seemed indestructible; Foreman was a surly, menacing champ, light years away from the cuddly TV pitchman he would become. The movie chronicles the so-called "Rumble in the Jungle" from its initial promotion in the U.S. through a six-week postponement that left the fighters, their entourages and the world's sports press waiting with varying degrees of impatience in Kinshasa, the cap...