Product Details

• Actors: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Burt Lancaster
• Directors: William Greaves, Rick Baxter
• Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• DVD Release Date: April 19, 2005
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007LPSIQ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,411 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fight of the Century, January 14, 2009

By	pizcaj (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

I knew of this fight from the constant discussions about it among my classmates during the weeks prior to the event when I was in grade school. Since that time, I've always been haunted by the mystic of this bigger-than-life event and was curious to see the whole 15 rounds. The mystic that I mention had to do with the reported intensity of this fight and the physical damage done to both fighters. My curiosity was further raised when I was in college and happened to come across a library book documentary about the first Ali-Frazier bout authored by Jose Torres, the title of which escapes me. His virtual round by round coverage of the fight itself was absolutely mesmerizing and made me want to see it all the more! Finally, in the mid 1980's, they played this documentary, which was titled as "The Fight" on TV, and apparently it's the same documentary as "Ali The Fighter". You can bet I had my VCR set to record it! Finally, after all these years, I was about to see this very elusive event for myself.
Well, all I can say, as a long-time boxing fan, is that this fight was the most fast-paced, intense, vicious boxing match that I had ever witnessed. I could not believe that two heavyweights could fight at the pace that these two great champions fought at and had sustained the punches that they received from one another! It certainly lived up to everything I've heard about it, and I've never seen any other boxing match that contained the amount of drama that this one had.
The media likes to talk about the Thrilla In Manilla as a classic, but I have to differ with them on that. By the time of the Thrilla In Manilla, both fighters had lost a lot of their speed, fluidity, and dynamic fighting style, where in the first fight, they were both much faster, sharper, and more lethal. There are those that say that Ali was past his prime when he came out of his exile, but to me, anyone who could dish out and receive the kind of punishment that Ali had sustained over those 15 hellishly-paced rounds from an righteously angry, relentless killing machine such as Joe Frazier, had to be a well-conditioned fighter. Although I has never personally liked the 1960's and early 1970's Ali, I had to deeply respect this man for the courage he displayed in this fight. To see him take that murderous left-hook of Frazier in the 11th round which was hard enough to buckle his knees, and come back to fight valiantly for the remaining rounds, brought a tear to my eyes. And how he ever got up so quickly, (considering he managed to get up in the first place) from such a devastating, picture-perfect left-hook during the 15th round, I'll never know. This man, with the "pretty face", was every bit as tough as Frazier.
Since I had misplaced my VHS recording of this great documentary, I'm going to put in my order for the DVD being sold on this site.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Doc, March 21, 2007

By	Corey Simples (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This film really takes you to the time when this fight took place. The footage gathered is top-notch and you are able to see Ali's charisma first hand. The absolute best part of this video is the fight at the end. It was incredible to watch that fight without commentators. It seemed like you could hear every blow and also some of the trash talking going on with the fighters. In my opinion this documentary tops when we were kings and I love that movie. Although I am a Muhammad Ali fan, after hearing some of the blows Joe Frazier was landing makes one gain a whole new respect for him.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ali-Frazier I Buildup and Battle Misses a Punch, January 3, 2007

By	R. Lehrer (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This DVD should actually be titled something like Ali-Frazier I Prefight and Fight. The DVD is actually a movie that was first released in either 1971 or 1972 about the first fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

There's some great footage that captures the personalities of both Ali and Frazier. There is also some great training footage of each fighter. The tension of the prefight buildup is captured beautifully. The presentation ends with the actual fight.

So why am I giving this product just three stars?

Because the video quality is very poor.

The producer of this product did no editing to clean it up or digitize it. There are too many scenes where you can't clearly see the faces of the individuals. The visuals are somewhat distorted and the film appears very grainy.

If the producers ever decide to digitize this film, it would be a five, easily.