If we listed every book, film, documentary, and TV special about Muhammad Ali, we wouldn’t have room to review the new 8-part Prime Video series “The Greatest.” This raises the question of whether such an endeavor is even necessary. Fortunately, the answer is a resounding yes.
The series spans just four years (aside from a few flashbacks), starting with 18-year-old Cassius Marcellus Clay winning a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and ending with 22-year-old Clay defeating Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title and proclaiming his name was Muhammad Ali.
(Note: Because the series covers a time period before Ali changed his name and was known privately and publicly as Cassius Clay, we will refer to the character as Cassius Clay in this review. When discussing the overall impact of arguably the most famous, influential, beloved, and polarizing figures in sports history, he is now and forever Muhammad Ali.)
This is a well-paced, largely accurate rendering of a remarkable period in Ali’s career, though as a lifelong student and massive fan of Ali, I couldn’t help but notice a few poetic-license inaccuracies. The ensemble cast is terrific, led by newcomer Jaalen Best, who rises to the challenge of portraying a larger-than-life figure and delivers a charismatic, layered performance. Though the social messaging can be a little heavy-handed at times, the early 1960s were a heavy time in America, so we forgive and understand the bluntness of the history lessons. After all, this was an era when a young man could win the gold medal and be welcomed in his hometown of Louisville with a hero’s welcome and a parade—but when he tries to sit at the counter of a luncheonette selling a “Gold Medal Burger” named in his honor, he’s told to get up, get out, and go to the back door to pick up his order.
In the first of a series of well-choreographed fight scenes, we see teenage Cassius Clay win his gold-medal bout in Rome. (At one point the announcer says, “And there’s his famous shuffle.” Actually, we didn’t see “The Ali Shuffle” until Ali’s 1966 match against Cleveland Williams at the Astrodome. I promise, that’s the only quibble I’ll quibble.)
Everyone in Louisville “loves” Cassius Clay, but we are in Kentucky in 1960, and the signs of racism are everywhere, from the “WHITES ONLY” signs in windows to fat cat white businessmen routinely using racist terms, to the socialite ladies who insult Clay’s mother, Odessa, known as “Bird” (Dana Gourrier), who works as a housekeeper, as she serves them tea. With sharp editing and crisp writing, the series alternates between a chronicle of the young contender’s rise through the ranks and his social/political awakening. Cassius and his younger brother Rudy (Kai Parham), who later becomes Rahman Ali, temporarily relocate to Miami to train with Angelo Dundee (Giovanni Ribisi) and become interested in the teachings of the Nation of Islam. (Michael Ealy does outstanding work as Malcolm X, who cautions Cassius that becoming a Black Muslim will have huge ramifications for his career and his personal life.)
The series admirably presents a complicated picture of the Clay household, with Omari Hardwick doing powerful work as Cassius Clay Sr., who undoubtedly loved his wife and children but was an alcoholic and sometimes bitter man who could be abusive. Also commendable is a subplot involving Sonny Liston (Amin Joseph), the heavyweight champion the press vilified as a formerly imprisoned thug with mob ties. “The Greatest” doesn’t shy away from portraying Liston’s horrific demons, but we also see some quieter moments, as when his future wife, Geraldine (Erica Tazel), reads a newspaper story about Liston aloud to him, and rewrites the profile on the spot to spare him the brutal sections of the write-up.
Still, the series rests squarely on Best, who wisely eschews a pure imitation of Clay/Ali but captures the poetic cadence of his voice, his growing showmanship, and his artistry in the ring. The 1963 bout between Clay and the Brit Henry Cooper (Julian Lewis) is particularly visceral, with Cooper knocking Clay to the canvas with a devastating left hook to the jaw just before the end of Round 4, and Clay winning by TKO in the 5th after Cooper’s face was bloodied so badly he looked like he’d been in a car wreck. (Watch the YouTube footage of that legendary brawl, and you’ll be struck by how closely “The Greatest” re-created the action. Truly impressive work.)
Dana Gourrier is an absolute force as “Bird” Clay. Ribisi captures the essence of the legendary Angelo Dundee, and Reno Wilson does the same with Drew Bundini Brown. “The Greatest” might not tell us much we didn’t already know about Muhammad Ali, but it’s a thorough, finely crafted series that captures the moments when a gifted young boxer began to embrace the power of his voice in and out of the ring.
All eight episodes were screened for review. Premieres November 4th on Prime Video.
