A.K.A. Cassius Clay
Made in 1970, just as he was reaching the end of a three-year exile from  boxing,A.K.A. Cassius Clayis a documentary about Muhammad Ali's life  and career. Produced by Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton, who would go on to manage  Mike Tyson, it includes reams of Jacobs's vast collection of fight footage, some  of it familiar, some quite rare, such as flickering images of Ali's earliest  bouts.Ali's familiar story is competently related here: his 1960 Olympic triumph, his  upset of Sonny Liston in 1964, his conversion to the Nation of Islam, and the  plainly vindictive decision on the part of the authorities to revise his draft  status and call him up for service in Vietnam. The principal pleasure is  watching Ali in full verbal flow, including his maniacal teasing of Liston that  proved to be a psychological knockout blow: "The man's toouglyto be the  world champ. The world champ should bepretty, like me!"--David  Stubbs