Terry Boers "roared" about this documentary currently
running on HBO. He had a lot of good things to say about
it. Just curious if any one else has been able to catch
this yet and had an opinion. I will have to try to set my
DVR for it and see if I can catch it this weekend. Any
reviews would be appreciated.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I've seen much of it and while it was good, it seemed to be largely rehashed bits/stories brought up in a number of different videos and earlier movies about Ali. Or Frazier's occaisional appearances on Stern waybackwhen.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Agreed, had read most of the story and didnt learn much new. Still a damned good fight.

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Ok, thanks. I will probably still try to catch it. I have onlly seen
bits and pieces on this fight over the years and never caught the
Ali movie with Will Smith ( maybe that was a good thing). Sounds
like going into this without too much prior knowledge may make this
a good show for me.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Finally got around to watching this. It's very well done. It's nothing new but it definitely draws you into the intensity of the fight.

Thumbs up.

I finally got around to watching this last night. It was eating up some quality DVR space, and I had heard good things, so it was either watch it or delete it. I watched it and was totally entertained by it.

I'm not old enough to remember the fights when they happened, but I've caught them on Classic. The most interesting thing I learned that I had never heard before is that the "Thrilla in Manila" took place at 10 am local time to accomodate the nighttime TV audience in the US. I can barely get my fat ass to the gym on a Saturday morning, let alone try to pummel one of the greatest fighters (either Ali or Frazier) of all time. I wish they had gone into more detail about how they changed their training routines to accomodate the strange start time...or not. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Seems to me it would've been, but I digress.

I couldn't stand the white dude with the perm. He's an Ali biographer, and every time he was on screen, I wanted to punch him. He just came across as smarmy to me. I also didn't care for the way the camera focused on Frazier while he was watching tape of the old bouts. It was kinda sad. I half expected drool to start coming out of his mouth.

I thought Marvis Frazier came across really well. I recall that he wasn't a very good boxer, but his love for his dad really shined thru. I loved his recollection of the Frazier-Foreman fight. Not a bad Cosell impression, either.

Though boxing is obviously a major component of the story, I think it's more of a character study of 2 of the most important figures in the history of the sweet science. Don't let the fact that it's about boxing scare you away. It's much more than that.

I cheered for Frazier when he stood up to Ali, asking him why he was "ignorant" on the set of that TV show. While not the eloquent speaker Ali was, Frazier came across better than I remember, given that I knew the "gorilla" and "ignorant" angles existed. He didn't sound like a dummy to me. I can only imagine the betrayal he felt at the hands of Ali after trying to help Ali get his boxing license back.

It was an excellent documentary and made me a bigger fan of Frazier than I already was.

Christ, I've written a lot on this. What am I? Bert Sugar?

Well put Ed, I finally watched it a few weeks ago and forgot to comment on it.
I found it to be a very good sports documentary about an interesting time in
both US History as well as the history of boxing.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Thomas Hauser is his name and you're right on about him; i forgot to mention that the one thing that was almost painful in this documentary was watching that pretentious asshat on screen. His voice was so full of contempt and smugness i wanted to rip off that tumbleweed on top of his head and shove it down his throat.

Dr. Ferdie Pacheco came off as a tool, too.

There was one thing I wondered while watching. If Ali thought Frazier was an "Uncle Tom" for allying with a company made up of white men, why didn't anyone question Ali on the fact that his trainer (Angelo Dundee) and doctor (Pacheco) were white? Was it beneath Frazier to get into it or was it never brought up?

There was another scene with just Ali on the set of some British talk show, and he told the host, who was white, something to the effect that Frazier was worse than the host. Coupled with Ali's use of the gorilla imagery, I came away respecting Ali a lot less. There are lines in life, and Ali definitely crossed it with his treatment of Frazier. Do I agree with Frazier's gloating about how he somehow had something to do with Ali's current condition? No, but I can't necessarily blame him, either.

i don't know what caused it either. frazier helped the guy out big time, and ali just disrespected the hell out of him until after that fight.

frazier's holding a grudge for no reason but i agree, i don't know that i hold it against him.

but yeah had i been alive and old enough to watch and appreciate that fight, i woulda been a frazier guy.

I finally got around to watching this from start to finish. I didn't learn anything new, but like most HBO Sports docs, I enjoyed it. It also reaffirmed my opinions that Ferdie Pachecho is a total pud, and that Ali is a piece of shit. He called Frazier a dummy, but let the Nation Of Islam control him like a puppet. I don't blame Frazier for his hatred.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken