1971

Around the documentary's (24:22) mark John Rains explains that March 8, 1971 would be a great night for the break in because everyone would be distracted by watching the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier "Fight of the Century." The documentary at (24:29) emphasizes this idea by showing a chart of worldwide TV rights to emphasize the magnitude of the event.

The documentary continues with the dramatization of Keith Forsyth breaking into the FBI offices. He states he could hear the broadcast of the fight and was "hoping for something like a swell" (31:34) to cover the noise he was making while trying to pry the FBI office door open. The dramatization even shows the live in building manager watching the fight (31:37) with audio of the fight broadcast as background noise in order to add to the drama of the moment. It's all very well done and very well edited.

Except, it never could have happened that way. At the (24:24) mark the documentary actually shows a poster promoting the fight which clearly states, "NO HOME TV - RADIO OR DELAYED TELECAST." The "Fight of the Century" was a Pay-per-view (PPV) event. The only way to watch the fight in the United States in real time was to go to a local theater and see it broadcast via closed circuit television. There was no option to watch or listen to the broadcast of the fight at home. The very first time highlights of the fight were shown was almost three years later on ABC's Wide World of Sports on January 26, 1974 to promote the rematch.

This is a great documentary about a great act of civil resistance which resulted in real change. However, as a documentary it does not get a free pass for dramatic effect. The takeaway is that documentarians need to be careful about being overly dependent on oral histories, eye-witness accounts or memories to tell their stories without corroboration.