When We Were Kings When We Were Kings When We Were Kings is a 1996 Academy Award winning documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The fight was held in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) on October 30, 1974. The film features a number of celebrities, including James Brown, Jim Brown, B.B. King, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, Spike Lee and Thomas Hauser. "When We Were Kings" was released in 1996 to strong reviews, and won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It took Gast
Hank Schwartz In 1972 Schwartz was invited by the Japanese television network ITV to advise the production crew and engineering staff for the global broadcast of the fight between Mac Foster and Muhammad Ali. By the time Ali fought Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonevena, Video Techniques had hit its peak and was considered to be the leader in these new distribution technologies. In 1973, Schwartz traveled to Jamaica to televise the fight between George Foreman and Joe Frazier, which was the first sporting event ever broadcast on HBO. In 1974 Video Techniques acted as the promoter and producer of The Rumble in