When We Were Kings
Gramercy Pictures (I) | Release Date: October 25, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
On a deeper level -- and this is where When We Were Kings exceeds its expectations and becomes a great film -- Gast examines African American pride. Read full review
100
San Francisco ExaminerDavid Armstrong
Read full review
100
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Leon Gast's remarkable film -- which is intercut with terrific recent interviews with eyewitnesses Norman Mailer and George Plimpton -- is about much more than one stupendous fight. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
It took director-producer Leon Gast 22 years to edit and finance When We Were Kings, his thrilling documentary about the legendary 1974 heavyweight-championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire. But the lag time has only deepened the impact of this thrilling documentary: All sad thoughts of Ali as a wounded warrior fall away in the glow of seeing the champ at his best. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderReece Pendleton
Gast does a nice job of building the suspense leading up to the fight, fleshing out the story with some good color commentary by a handful of people (filmed by director Taylor Hackford, who wisely convinced Gast that these reminiscences and remarks would fill in some historical gaps). Read full review
90
Film ThreatJimmy Chertkow
The seemingly total access and seemingly total coverage the film makers enjoy makes us forget at times that this isn't some Hollywood fabrication. Read full review
90
The New York TimesLawrence Van Gelder
Mr. Gast skillfully blends photographs, celebrity interviews with Norman Mailer and others, and colorful forays into the Zairian countryside, where Ali fostered black brotherhood and became a huge favorite, in a film that ''gazes well beyond the ring and seeks engagement with history''. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Howe
For those who want to relive Ali's glory days, and for those who think Ali was nothing but a prizefighter, this movie, which took the struggling Gast 20 years to get financed, is required viewing. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverPeter Rainer
The documentary is, in essence, not much more than a record of what happened in Zaire, but it has been assembled with a real feeling for the historical moment. It's literally a blast from the past. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
When We Were Kings is a wonderfully entertaining, at times thrilling, film. Ali is magnificent, Foreman oddly touching, and their fight, which is shown almost in total, makes for superb, nail-biting suspense--even two decades after the fact. Read full review
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Tightly made and populated by a uniformly larger-than-life cast of characters , pic is a total delight for every second of its running time. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRussell Smith
The stunning vitality and passion of this film arises not only from the high-voltage personalities involved (especially Ali and King) but from the way they galvanized political and ethnic pride among the people of the poor West African nation. Read full review
80
Washington PostRita Kempley
Though the Oscar-nominated documentary captures the fight and the fighters, it also explores Ali's role in reintroducing black Americans to their African culture. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It is a new documentary of a past event, recapturing the electricity generated by Muhammad Ali in his prime. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A wonderfully nostalgic, and occasionally insightful, window into the recent past. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Fascinating footage goes beyond the boxing ring to document Ali's brilliance as a public personality. Read full review
70
SalonCharles Taylor
When We Were Kings, which was put together by Taylor Hackford and Leon Gast, is a patchy movie that fails to rise to the grace and articulation of its main attraction. But it has Ali, and when he's on-screen, that's enough. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubMaria Schneider
When We Were Kings is an energetic, passionate documentary of this event, and a revelation for people who only know Ali as an ex-champ with Parkinson's and Foreman as a Care Bear. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The resulting film does have a makeshift quality to it, with the new footage, old newsreel shots, circa 1974 interviews, film of the fight and the concerts stitched together in a kind of cinematic crazy quilt. But because a classic heavyweight championship fight, especially with these protagonists, epitomizes the drama inherent in sport, When We Were Kings always compels our interest. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineStaff(Not credited)
Gast doesn't hide his admiration for the charismatic Ali, whose antics provide the film's most enjoyable moments. Read full review
60
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The film's title ought to be When We Were King's Pawns. Don King maximized the media circus aspects from the start, as the razzle-dazzle directing of Leon Gast, helped in the editing by Taylor Hackford and others, makes electrically clear. Read full review
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