Don King: Only in America

the quality of this movie surprised me. The editing, dialogues, and screenplay flow is superb. Tough for an actor to act to be Don King, an actor himself. Learned new english words too: "tried to DISMERCIFY me". I would reccomend that the viewer see first "When We Where Kings", the documentary of the Ali-Foreman fight in Zaire, because a good 20 minutes of this movie re-enacts many scenes straight from the documentary. There are imaginative scenes and dialogues: how the character impersonating Don King talks to the camera [audience] saying how HBO is making a movie on him; stunning beginning in which a scene from the past is bridged to the present zooming in on the footsteps on a stairway, then zooming out to see the entire figure walking of a much older person.

Ving Rhames, a largely unknown actor, whom most would remember from Pulp Fiction, gives his role of Don King all he's got, and it really does pay off. It results in one of the decade's best telemovies, leaving the viewer hating yet strangely drawn toward the eccentric King.

It revolves around King's rise to stardom through strongarm tactics. His violent itchy trigger finger deals it's wrath to anyone who gets in the way, and it's his no nonsense approach to boxing which gets him where he is.

The story is revealed through flashbacks, being narrated by an older King. Those are the film's funniest moments. Watching Rhames strut around the ring, whilst smoking a huge cigar and speaking in a near-scream make for extremely humourous moments. Rhames' conviction to the part makes King a character that's both funny and threatening at the same time. He relishes in hyperbole, taking the good with the bad and seeing what you get.

The idiosyncrasies and mannerisms of King are all portrayed masterfully, right down to the wavy Kramer hairstyle. Each of the supporting characters are great, but, watching Jaleel White (that guy from 'Family Matters') play Muhammed Ali just reminds you too much of his sitcom character.

It's a highly satisfying, yet powerful movie. One of the telemovies which can be recommended, which is a rare occasion. This would be a wise choice if Saturday night's viewing is not up to standard.

Nine out of ten.

Kudos to Ving Rhames for a job well done as the flamboyant boxing promoter Don King, who is still with us in the boxing game, although he's toned down quite a bit. I'll bet Rhames had a lot of fun playing this role. King, meanwhile, will always be King, and you ring fans know what I mean by that. Still, I wonder if he doesn't cringe watching this biography of him.

As interesting a career as Mr. King has, that doesn't mean I enjoyed watching this movie. It's extremely racist, at least in the first half which turned me off so much I don't recall if even finished the film. All white people were portrayed as bad people. How is that permitted, when the opposite is not. Just the typical double standard employed by most filmmakers.

However, to be fair, King was a bad, bad dude in his early days and the film is portraying that. He's a much different person today. It's just that it's not fun to watch, nor is the profanity in here fun to hear. I don't mind "language" since I'm no choir boy, but this is ridiculous in here. Don't let the "made-for-TV" label fool you. It was made for HBO, and anything goes on that network.

Ving Rhames is a truly amazing actor and always gives a wonderful performance. I always think of him as electronic expert Luther Stickell in the Mission Impossible movie series with Tom Cruise. In this film, he tackles a very challenging role and pulls it off magnificently! He should have gotten an Emmy for his outstanding work as a true American monster Don King. Don King was inducted into the boxing hall of fame recently, can you believe that? Someone said that is like burying Benedict Arnold in Arlington Cemetary. Don King did not hold anything remotely resembling an honest job until he was 40 years old and went into boxing promoting. He was nothing but a common criminal. He was a numbers runner for the Clevland syndicate and killed two men. In the first case, it was ruled justifiable homicide, in the second case it was more despicable. This man beat another man to death on a public street in front of many eyewitnesses. He literally kicked him to death until his brain ruptured. For this crime he only served a few years in prison. Rhames made me laugh in this film with his amusing portrayal of King's flamboyance and colorful use of words, but there is nothing funny about this man and the damage that he did to boxing. The most horrible thing that he did, and I WANT EVERYONE READING THIS ON IMDB TO HEAR THIS!!!LISTEN TO WHAT I AM SAYING. In 1980, Muhammad Ali came out of retirement to fight Larry Holmes in an effort to become the only man to ever regain the title three times. Before this fight, Ali had to have a physical at the Mayo clinic which is one of the finest clinics in the US. They sent a report of their findings to Don King and he supressed this report and let the fight go on. They found out that Ali literally had a hole in the membranes surrounding his brain. He admitted that he had tingling in his hands and slurring of his speech. All they would have to do is listen to tapes of him from ten years before to hear how his voice had changed. He couldn't do simple things like hopping or touching his nose with his finger (the things police have people do to take a DUI test). Don King talked of how much he "loved" Ali. IF HE LOVED HIM SO DAMN MUCH WHY OH WHY DIDN"T HE CANCEL THE FIGHT. King was so powerful do you think that he couldn't have done it. Eddie Futch was one of the legendary trainers in boxing. He trained Joe Frazier and said he loved him like a son. In the third fight he had with Ali in Manilla, Eddie stopped the fight because he knew Frazier was blind and couldn't defend himself. Keep in mind, he thought Frazier was ahead on points and it was the last round. That is a true gentleman and that is what Don King should have done with the Ali Holmes fight. Ali suffered a horrible beating that was unbearable to watch. Sylvester Stallone said it was like watching an autopsy on a living person. Ali was damaged even more by this fight and it was all because of a scumbag named Don King. Don King is a monster and he is like a Frankenstein monster because we made him and we let him get away with it. Joe Louis must be turning in his grave!!!!!

The life of boxing promoter Don King was/is so varied and complicated that I would have thought that a low budget TV movie would struggle with it. But hats off to the producers and HBO, while not having fortunes to spend they have covered most of it competently and in Ving Rhames they have a fantastic star performance. In fact it is hard to tell him from the real thing!

As we know, boxing has a seamy side, but King seems to the kind of person that pushes the boundaries of even this biz. His silver tongue (he did a lot of reading in prison) tricks many a young boxer in to signing or doing what he wants.

From jailhouse to courthouse to penthouse Don has a quality that many an eel would admire. Somehow he always comes back from any setback and seems to be able to actually to turn anything to his own advantage. If you didn't know a lot of this was true you would call it over-the-top!

His early life as a numbers runner is not glossed over, although he portrays himself as being in the "hope business" and doing people a big favour. Even in charity he thinks of only one thing - himself.

This is great black (in more senses than one) comedy and provides many belly laughs - his treatment of Larry Holmes is a gem, even turning up with a contract on this honeymoon!

You don't have to be a boxing fan to enjoy this movie, but it helps. Boxing scenes are well recreated and the star performance by Rhames (who usually plays straight-ahead bad guy roles) is worth tuning in for all by itself. Very enjoyable and far more entertaining than many boxing films with several times the budget.