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Kartemquin Korner is a semi-regular feature which spotlights a particular film from Kartemquin Films, the greatest documentary collective this side of the spiral arm of the galaxy. This installment looks at the The Trials Of Muhammad Ali (2013):

The Trials Of Muhammad Ali (2013)

The Trials Of Muhammad Ali was Directed by Bill Siegel, Produced by Rachel Pikelny, Edited by Aaron Wickenden,  and Executive Produced by Leon Gast, Kat White, Kartemquin Co-Founder Gordon Quinn, and Kartemquin Visionary-In-Residence Justine Nagan. Composer Joshua Abrams provides the score.

Yet another Kartemquin documentary as powerful and riveting as a great dramatic work, this film will suck you in from the opening seconds and hold you in its grip throughout. The opening sequence features footage from a 1968 British talk show in which American TV pundit David Susskind denounces Muhammad Ali (who is conveniently coming from Chicago via satellite) as “a disgrace to his country, his race, and to what he laughingly describes as his profession” and “a simplistic fool and a pawn.” Cut to the next sequence from a 2005 White House Ceremony in which Ali was given the Medal Of Freedom by George W. Bush and is introduced as “one of the greatest athletes of all time.”

The Trials Of Muhammad Ali explores how he went from being pilloried and vilified as a Public Enemy to becoming one of the most recognizable and celebrated human beings on earth.

The eldest son of Odessa Clay and Marcellus Clay, Sr., Ali was born January 17, 1942 and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Christened with the name Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr (he and his father were both named for a 19th Century white abolitionist and important political figure in Kentucky); he was a natural athlete who played many sports, but at the age of twelve devoted himself to the sport of boxing, in which he particularly excelled. He quickly progressed and by his late teens he was a world class amateur boxer, demonstrating that fact by winning a Gold Medal at the 1960 Olympics.

After the opening with Susskind and a brief interlude with current Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan; the film picks up the story at this point. We see footage of Ali winning his medal, then announcing that he will turn pro and align himself with a consortium of backers from the Louisville business community.

Although it uses standard documentary “talking head” interviews to flesh out the narrative (particularly with Farrakhan, Ali’s brother Rahman, consortium head Gordon B Davidson, Nation Of Islam Minister Abdul Rahman Muhammad, and Ali’s ex-wife Khalilah Camacho-Ali) the real power of The Trials Of Muhammad Ali comes from the use of archival footage from several sources. It gives the film an immediacy and impact despite the fact that the events described happened over 40 years ago.

The first third of the film continues to interweave the story of Ali’s quest for the World Championship with a concurrent political and spiritual awakening that drew him to the teachings of the controversial and feared black separatist religious group The Nation Of Islam and a deep friendship with Malcolm X. His success and fame continued through the early 1960’s, as did his growing association with Malcolm and The NOI, culminating in his officially joining (and adopting the name Cassius X to replace the “slave name” of Clay) just as he was on the verge of winning his long sought championship.

There was immense pressure from all around him to renounce his affiliation with the Nation or at least to continue to keep it secret, especially on the eve of his title bout with the feared champion Sonny Liston, and he finally agreed not to speak of it publicly before the fight. He chafed against this restriction, however, and the day after he won the title he “came out” as a Nation Of Islam member when asked by a young sports reporter about the long-swirling rumors that he had joined the NOI. After that “it was on” and he never backed down from any questions about his religious beliefs or his feelings about racism and oppression in America.

Ali prays at the Hussein Mosque in Cairo in June 1964, four months after changing his name from Cassius Clay and announcing he is a member of the Nation of Islam. Note: Ali converted to mainstream Sunni Islam after the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975. Photo Credit: Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Shortly afterwards, Nation Of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad decreed that now that Cassius was champion he was too big to carry the letter X and renamed him Muhammad Ali ( Muhammad meaning “Worthy of all Praises” and Ali meaning “Most High”). From then on he refused to allow himself to be called by any other name.

The mainstream American media refused to call him by this new name despite Ali’s insistence upon it, and a battle of wills began between them over the next several years. The white American public, already entranced and repelled by his brash outspoken manner, exploded in controversy over this development. A firestorm grew around him and he did nothing to alleviate it, speaking loudly and proudly about all subjects and rhetorically taking on all comers. In addition to his lightning rod status in the US, his religious conversion combined with his boxing championship and refusal to back down from white establishment pressure instantly made him a worldwide celebrity.

A strong, outspoken, and militant black man who was also a celebrity was the worst nightmare of the 1960’s power structure, and all forms of pressure were brought to bear on Ali, but he remained unbowed and defiant. In addition to his outspoken public persona and increasingly close relationship with the NOI (even after Malcom X’s bitter break with the Nation and his subsequent assassination), he also was taking an almost sadistic glee in beating the living crap out of a series of opponents who refused to call him Muhammad Ali (the origins of the popular shout-out “What’s my name?!?!?”).

Seeing that he was invulnerable to their pressures, the Establishment (to use a popular term of the era) sought another way to silence or co-opt him, and in early 1967, his draft status for Selective Service was mysteriously changed to 1-A, making him almost certain to be drafted into fighting in the escalating conflict in Vietnam. The Louisville Consortium made successful inquiries with various Reserve units to have him instead serve in the Kentucky National Guard or some other non-combat entity (this was decades before America’s National Guards were “kidnapped” for use in foreign conflicts as they are today). They envisioned him serving in much the way Joe Louis did in WW2, as a noncombat “ambassador” who did exhibition boxing matches to boost troop morale.

This is where the film really takes off. Ali is now faced with a choice between losing millions of dollars and facing jail time or at best becoming a stooge to the racist military industrial complex. Ali chose to stand up for his beliefs and faced the full wrath of the Armed Forces, the legal system, the media, and the American public (and his own parents, who were already furious about his conversion).

His bid for Conscientious Objector status was rejected and he was convicted by an all white jury and sentenced to five years in prison. Although freed on bail pending appeal, Ali was stripped of his title and essentially forbade from boxing the U.S. He also had his passport confiscated and was thus not allowed to fight in another country. Deprived of his livelihood, he went on the public speaking circuit, appearing at college campuses all over the country. At first he was stilted and dogmatic in these appearances, but he soon learned to be himself and became comfortable in his new role. As he became more articulate and entertaining, his message began to soak through and public opinion turned toward him, especially as the Vietnam conflict (and America’s racial conflicts) grew bloodier and “The Sixties” achieved full flower.

I won’t spoil the experience by continuing this synopsis. Watch the film for the rest of the story. There is also a recent dramatic film called Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, which is a prototypical example of that particularly insidious kind of Hollywood film where the courageous struggle of a Black hero who bravely faces total ruin and/or violent death is subsumed by the story of a handful upper-class white folks who bravely do their jobs.    end/snark

Muhammad Ali walks through the streets of New York City with members of the Black Panther Party in September 1970. Credit: David Fenton/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Here are a few thoughts about the film:

You can’t overstate how much was at stake for Ali and just how vilified he was at first. Mainstream public opinion was still firmly in favor of the war in 1967  (or at least not against it) and didn’t turn for several more years, in no small way because of Ali himself.

The sacrifice he made for his beliefs was gargantuan, costing him millions of dollars and putting him at risk for serious jail time. And it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy being a popular public figure and having lots of money, nor was he unaware of what he was getting himself into. He fiercely spoke truth to power despite enormous consequences.

Ali’s bravery seems especially pointed in this era of media and sports celebrities afraid to speak to power when all it would cost them is a really good table in the hottest restaurants, or a seven-figure endorsement contract when they are already worth tens of millions. Ali’s sacrifice still serves as a blistering indictment of those who think wearing a ribbon is the same as taking a stand.

In addition to reviving public awareness of how vital Ali was in his prime and how he intimidating was to the White American Establishment, the film really evokes the feel of the sixties and just how intense and confrontational the era was in general. It was no cuddly hug fest- despite what the nostalgia mongers will have you believe.

David Crosby once said that “If you can remember the sixties, you weren’t really there.” While this was definitely true for the hedonistic rock and roll crowd, for the greater society as a whole I say “If you weren’t scared shitless during the sixties, you weren’t really there.” Beloved leaders were being assassinated, cities were going up in flames, soldiers were dying by the score in Vietnam, and students were getting their asses whupped at home for protesting that fact. It is a fear I remember well as a lad curled on the floor in front of the TV, watching  the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite tally body counts in Vietnam and describe the chaos in the US. The Wonder Years weren’t so wonderful to little kids worried about their older brother’s low draft number or seeing them getting tear-gassed in their dorm room. Bill Siegel’s brilliant use of archival footage powerfully evokes that feeling of uneasiness for everyone involved no matter who they were.

Young folks who have only known Ali as “that shaky guy who makes the grownups act very serious whenever he’s on TV” will be especially surprised by this, but even I was struck by it because he’s been so ill for so long: DAMN, HE WAS FUNNY! As scathing as Lenny Bruce and as quick on his feet as Robin Williams in their respective primes, Ali was hilarious even when denouncing racism or railing against the forces of ignorance. I really want to watch the full Firing Line episode where he tears William F. Buckley a new asshole after seeing a snippet of it in the film. In fact, I shall go see if I can find it online right now.

And you, Gentle Reader, must see The Trials Of Muhammad Ali as soon as you possibly can! It is screening at various locales around the country and will be shown on the PBS series Independent Lens on April 14, 2014. Click here to get it from I-Tunes.

Another public service this film does is bring this wonderful woman to the attention of the public!
Bill Siegel and Khalilah Camacho-Ali. Photo credit: Aaron Wickenden.

I had been waiting a long time for the release of Public Enemies, and I wasn’t disappointed. It is a dark and riveting roller coaster of a film that held my (and the audience’s) attention throughout, despite the fact that we all knew how it was going to end. (At least I hope we all did.)

My pining to see Public Enemies began last summer, after I interviewed the film’s Production Designer, Nathan Crowley, just after principal photography had wrapped in Chicago.

Nathan described the effort he (and many others) put into creating a vision of mid-1930’s Chicago that would satisfy the exacting standards of Michael Mann, a director known for being a bit of a stickler on period (and overall) details. “I think it’s the most work I’ve ever had to do in a period film in terms of having to alter locations,” Crowley told me.

Ironically, most of this “alteration work” involved the locations where pivotal events in the Dillinger story actually happened. The tasks included prepping the Little Bohemia Lodge up in Northern Wisconsin (the site of a furious shootout between bank robbers and G-men) for a fake Hollywood gunfight, including all the requisite bullet holes and broken glass. “There were still bullet holes in the walls there [from the the 1930’s].”

Clearing out and restoring the decrepit and abandoned old Lake County, Indiana jail was another big endeavor, but it was the block of Lincoln Avenue outside of the Biograph Theater in Chicago that provided his biggest challenge.

Basically, what he (and Set Decorator Rosemary Brandenburg) did was completely roll back the clock on the entire block to how it looked the night Dillinger was gunned down. “So we had to facade up all the buildings around the alley where he was shot, had to change the exterior of the Biograph and the interior lobby. We put cobblestones down, we put the tram lines in, we had to take out the lamp posts; we had to do all this stuff; the traffic lights, there was a McDonald’s there and we had to cover that up.”

Keep in mind that this is smack dab in the middle of Lincoln Park, one of the original  “overgentrified” (to put it politely) North Side Neighborhoods, and the businesses involved were mostly high end (or at least high volume) stores, bars and restaurants. Crowley himself was rather amazed, “I’m astonished that everyone went along with it. I guess people who work on that street really understood where we were trying to go with it, but it was definitely an inconvenience. And the traffic flow down that street is horrendous. But you know the city really worked with us and somehow we managed to do it.”

Not that there was a choice in Crowley’s mind that the job needed to be done, “We looked at options like faking it in Milwaukee, but it’s an injustice to the Dillinger story to start faking stuff like the Biograph, if you do you’ve kind of sold out at that point.”

Colleen Mastony of the Tribune has a very nice rundown of the major locations used by the film here, but one that wasn’t mentioned is Union Station, whose Art Deco style offices upstairs from the station (left abandoned by Amtrak several years ago) filled in as J. Edgar Hoover’s offices in Washington, DC (it was refreshing to see a film portray Hoover more like the evil, power mad S.O.B. that he was-BTW).

The most dramatic use of the station, however, was for the scene where the Texas Rangers arrive in Chicago. Nathan elaborates, “There’s a scene where Melvin Purvis, the lead agent, brings in some help from the Texas Rangers because to fight Dillinger they need some men who understand how to gunfight, not like the young FBI guys… To me it was like the cavalry arriving. In Union Station there are certain platforms that still have the old Victorian arches on them, the big steel glazed arches and they still have the steam openings, the little slits, in the ceiling. So we found the largest still running steam engine in the world and it just fit into Union Station, so we brought it in and the Texans get off this enourmous steam engine and march across the grand hall of Union Station [MC-the site of the famous “baby carriage scene” in the The Untouchables].”

The thankless job of Production Designer on a period picture:

The train sequence was very dramatic, and Nathan and company endeavored throughout the film to be as accurate as possible, but no matter how hard you try; this site and this other railfan discussion forum illustrate how you can never satisfy those in the know.

Public Enemies was actually the 4th film in a row that Crowley had done in the city, so he was used to facing big challenges in Chicago; since he had already created the look of Gotham City for Batman Begins, designed and overseen the construction of a modernistic glass house on stilts in a forest preserve lake for The Lake House, and been in charge of Production Design for The Dark Knight (he also designed the Batmobile and the futuristic BatPod).

Check out Hollywood On Lake Michigan, 2nd Edition for more about Nathan Crowley and his amazing 4 year tenure in Chicago! Hollywood On Lake Michigan, 2nd Edition is now available for pre-order.