70
Fight footage is kept to a minimum; in this film, the boxer's best one-two's don't hit inside the ring. Clay's ingenious hype-baiting moxie drives the first half, cut to a nouvelle pop beat.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
90
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
In an era whose culture was defined by what the literary critic Richard Poirier called the performing self, Mr. Ali's persona was one of the greatest performances of all.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey
More about Ali as media star and social figure, less about the quicksilver athlete.
70
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
William Klein's film documents a turbulent time and an outsized personality, but the film's glories are in the details and its intimacy would be unimaginable in the rigidly spin-controlled atmosphere of 21st-century sports.