The Greatest (1977 film) The Greatest (1977 film) The Greatest is a 1977 film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali, in which Ali plays himself. It was directed by Tom Gries and Monte Hellman. The film follows Ali's life from the 1960 Olympics to his regaining the heavyweight crown from George Foreman in their famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight in 1974. The footage of the boxing matches themselves are largely the actual footage from the time involved. The movie is based on the book "" written by Muhammad Ali and Richard Durham and edited by Toni Morrison. The song "The Greatest Love
The Rumble in the Jungle match, so I had to let it go." Foreman eventually concluded, in 2003: "[Ali is] the greatest man I've ever known. Not greatest boxer that's too small for him. He had a gift. He's not pretty he's beautiful. Everything America should be, Muhammad Ali is." The fight was broadcast live pay-per-view on closed-circuit television, also known as theatre television, to venues across the world. The fight had a record estimated 50million viewers on closed-circuit television worldwide, grossing an estimated $100million (inflation-adjusted $million) in revenue. In the United States, the fight had an estimated 3million closed-circuit viewers in 400venues, with tickets