Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre documentary Starring Cassius Clay, Angelo Dundee, Thomas Hauser Directed by Gaspar Gonzalez and Alan Tomlinson Publisher PBS Paramount

Muhammad Ali, originally known as Cassius Clay, has been the subject of many documentaries and a feature film. He is a legend. Most people, however, look into the life of Ali rather than Clay. Made In Miami looks mostly into the life of Cassius Clay on his rise to becoming a legend, glimpsing into his life at the gym and living during a time of racial tension.

What works in this documentary is the lack of a narrator to spell everything out for the audience. The historical clips and interviews tell all, without a third party attempting to create fictional dramatic tension. It also allows more room for the viewer to decide what to think instead of being to told how to interpret everything.

The biggest appeal in this documentary comes from the interviews with people who knew Ali personally, or were given the chance to meet him. The most interesting interviewee is Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee. Just watching him talk is entertaining because he has an amazingly vivid memory of little details. He was not only able to convey what type of person Ali was, but also what gave him his undeniable charm. When he started discussing details of the historic fight between Ali and the menacing Sonny Liston, his eyes burned with real intensity as he relived the moments.

Part of the documentary dives into Ali’s fighting style and why nobody else could beat him. It included some zoom-ins to show how quick and powerful his jabs were. It allowed for Ali to break standard techniques and invent his own style, which required special physical speed and stamina.

Other topics touched upon were his involvement with Malcolm X and how he wanted to be treated equally with everyone else. However, all of this was crammed into a 53-minute PBS special and fares better on the television. This DVD could work at a school in order to show as a history lesson. Not that it’s uninteresting, there’s just not enough content to be sold as an individual DVD. The interviews are what make this DVD stand out, but it does not make a feature length documentary.