The Film
Ali was angered over his loss to Jim Jeffries in the fantasy fights and sued Woroner for $1 million for defamation of character. The lawsuit was settled when Woroner offered to pay Ali $10,000 to participate in a filmed version of his radio fantasy fights in which Ali would fight Marciano. Ali, who had been stripped of his heavyweight title and American boxing license three years prior, agreed on the condition that he would also receive a cut of the film's profits. Marciano also agreed to participate with a similar deal. The same formulas were used again and entered into the NCR 315. In 1969, filming began in a Miami studio.
Marciano, whose last fight before retiring was 14 years prior, lost over 50 pounds and wore a toupee in order to look as he did in his prime. Even for a "fake" fight, Marciano and Ali really looked forward to meeting each other and getting back in the ring.
The two fighters sparred for about 70 to 75 rounds, which were later spliced together according to the findings of the computer. The final outcome would not be revealed to anyone until the release of the film. Braddock, Louis, Schmeling, Sharkey and Walcott also recorded commentary to be used in the film. Marciano died in a plane crash three weeks after filming wrapped.
On January 20, 1970, the fight was shown only once in 1500 theaters over closed-circuit television in the United States, Canada, and throughout Europe. It grossed $5 million. The computer had determined that Marciano would knock Ali out in the 13th round and the film was edited to present that outcome. All prints of the fight except one were supposed to be immediately destroyed. However, many theaters played the show long after January 20.
Read more about this topic: The Super Fight
Famous quotes containing the word film:
“You should look straight at a film; that’s the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”
—Werner Herzog (b. 1942)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)