Name: Retro Film Review: Don King: Only in America (1997)
Item: Don King: Only in America
Rating: 60
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

In today's media-dominated world fame often doesn't have much to with genuine talent. And when some celebrity actually has talent, it is worthless without people who are able to promote it. Most of the time people who create stars are themselves faceless, ordinary and far from media spotlight. One of the most spectacular exceptions to this rule is the protagonist of Don King: Only in America, 1997 cable television biopic directed by John Herzfeld.

The script, written by Kario Salem, is based on Jack Newfield's unauthorised biography of Don King (played by Ving Rhames), the most famous and most controversial boxing promoter in today's world. The plot of the film follows the most important and most extraordinary episodes in Don King's life, starting with his humble beginnings as a street thug and convicted killer. Following a prison sentence, King gets and idea of becoming boxing promoter and uses his friendship with singer Lloyd Price (played by Vondie Curtis-Hall) as a way to fulfil that dream. Innocent charity boxing match featuring Muhammad Ali (played by Darius McCrary) transforms into huge spectacle. Through years King becomes even more successful, but with wealth and fame comes also comes infamy. King is always followed by stories of his questionable business practices and unfair treatment of his clients.

"Emmy"-awarded Don King: Only in America represents fascinatingly refreshing way of handling biographies on screen. Using the fictional character of Don King as film's narrator, Herzfeld tries (and for most part succeeds) to extract simple message from the interesting and extraordinary events in King's life. In Herzfeld's vision Don King represents all the best and the worst in America - on one hand, his life is embodiment of American Dream, since it shows how even the people from the lowest social strata can achieve wealth and fame; on the other hand, it shows how such success is beyond reach for people with even the lowest amounts of integrity, honesty and scruples. The film is good, but not great, mostly because it lacks proper closure. The first part, in which audience sees King's way to the top has more dramatic potential than the second part in which King is rich, famous and safe. The last scenes, featuring infamous Tyson-Holyfield ear-biting incident, indicate that the authors have discarded their own artistic integrity for the sake of cheap sensationalism and exploitation of current events; too much emphasis on Mobutu, Zairian president deposed during the production of the film also shows that Herzfeld ran out of ideas how to fill two hours of running time. On the other hand, in those two hours audience will be able to see some fine acting, especially in the case of Douglas McCrary who brilliantly portrays Ali. His performance is, however, overshadowed by Ving Rhames', probably in the same way the film's protagonist is overshadowed by his real-life equivalent.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on February 19th 2004)