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
George Foreman later charged that Angelo Dundee had loosened them, and this story is supported by Norman Mailer in the book "The Fight"), allowed Ali to lean back and away from Foreman's wild swings and then to clinch Foreman behind the head, forcing Foreman to expend much extra energy untangling himself. Ali also constantly pushed down on Foreman's neck but was never warned about doing so. To this day, it is unclear whether Ali's pre-fight talk of using speed and movement against Foreman had been just a diversionary tactic or whether his use of what became known as the "rope-a-dope" tactic was