Title: Thrilla in Manila
Director: John Dower
Released: 2008
Tag line: ‘They were fighting for the heavyweight championship of each other’.
The plot: Dower’s film attempts to take a step back from the glitz and legend surrounding one of boxing history’s greatest fights to, instead, set it against the background of racial tensions in 1970′s America.
Mixing interviews with the Joe Frazier (who died last December) and his family with archive footage creates a stirring portrait of the hurt inflicted upon Frazier by Muhammad Ali: Not in the ring, but on a personal level.
You haven’t heard the full story of boxing’s greatest trilogy until you’ve watched this.
YouTube credit: VenerableSounds
