When We Were Kings / Tyson

When We Were Kings – 1996, Leon Gast
Tyson – 2009, James Toback

The best documentaries take an interesting subject and use it as a plot. Conventional fictional films have twists and turns and revelations, and there’s no reason documentaries can’t have them as well. For this reason WWWK is better that Tyson, but even the most perfunctory documentary about Tyson would be good. Tyson is an interesting, crazy, despicable and sympathetic man. Boxing saved him from a life of crime. Make that a life of even more crime.

Tyson sits and talks about his life and we are shown footage of his fights and court appearances. The best thing about this film from a boxing point of view is the footage of Tyson’s pre rape conviction fights. All we ever see nowadays is an out of shape tattoo face Tyson biting off ears or giving up to Irish journeymen. When he was on his way to his first title Tyson was unbelievable. He was strong and could hit as hard as anyone, but he was also faster than almost any other heavyweight at the time, this made him unstoppable.

Iron Mike has mellowed, and as sympathetic a portrait as this doc paints of him, you still wouldn’t want to be alone in a lift with him. The most loathsome thing he mentions is that he is angry at the conviction he received for raping Desiree Washington.

How many women did you ‘take advantage’ of Mike?


When We Were Kings is the better documentary, but Gast benefited from the wealth of footage that exists from The Rumble In The Jungle, the biggest boxing match in history. The circumstances of the fight, the atmosphere in Zaire and the build-up were all documented at the time by the world’s press. As well as the fight there was a concert; Zaire 74 (which is the subject of a 2008 documentary Soul Power) which provided a lot of material (including some excellent footage of B.B. King).

Mohamed Ali is the obvious hero of the film, but George Foreman isn’t completely demonised. WWWK left me with mixed emotions. Discovering more about Mohammed Ali makes it all the sadder that he wasn’t able to fulfil his potential in later life. He could have become an even bigger influence than he already is. Conversely, George Foreman appeared not to have had any charisma at all in 1974. After a crushing defeat to the underdog Ali, he went on to become the larger than life purveyor of domestic appliances we know and love today.

And for the record; at their respective peaks Tyson beats Ali hands down.

Blues Guitar Face to the max.