We remember Muhammad Ali as the Greatest. But there was a time when much of America hated his guts. To his dissenters, he was too cocky, too pretty, too Muslim, too Black. His journey from outcast to idol is at the heart of "Muhammad Ali," an eight-hour documentary premiering Sunday on PBS.
Like the rest of Ken Burns' projects, it has a lot to say about our country.
"What we are always drawn to are very, very complicated stories that are engaged in an essential American-ness, whatever that is, and we pursue it," the acclaimed director said last month during a virtual news conference. "No one could be more important to the exploration of that question than Muhammad Ali."
The four-part series includes familiar milestones like the "Rumble in the Jungle" match in Zaire where he famously beat George Foreman, his comedy routines with Howard Cosell and the lighting of the torch at the Atlanta Olympics.
But you may get thrown for a loop by the chapters in which Ali's religion and refusal to go to Vietnam got under people's skins. Newspapers kept referring to him as Cassius Clay long after he had changed his name. He was booed — and not just by white spectators.
"There's a certain section of Black people that loved Muhammad and another that despised him," said actor and former heavyweight champion Michael Bentt, one of the most eloquent voices in the film. "When you achieve something and you're in the spotlight, then have a challenge, people hate you because they can't do that or they would fold under the pressure of trying to do that."
Some of the most jarring scenes in the documentary deal with the years Ali was not allowed to fight and just how close he came to going to jail.
When Ali was in the ring, he was a powerhouse. I previously doubted the idea that he was truly the greatest of all time. Now I'm not so sure.
