Muhammad Ali's 1974 knockout of George Foreman to regain the heavyweight championship of the world at the age of 32 was probably the greatest sporting moment of the 20th century. Leon Gast's documentary on the"Rumble In The Jungle", When We Were Kings , eventually released in 1996, is probably the finest ever boxing film. The background to the contest was almost as dramatic as the fight itself. It was the first major coup for promoter Don King, a character described in this film as"very clever but completely amoral"--yet this was his finest hour. President Mobutu, unsavoury dictator of Zaire and a more frightening figure than either boxer, had spent millions of his country's money to host the event. George Foreman, like Sonny Liston before him and Mike Tyson after him, was considered unbeatable, expected to slaughter Ali. Seeing him pounding a dent the size of a grapefruit into a heavy bag during training, you can understand why. Ringside American journalists George Plimpton and in particular Norman Mailer offer exceptionally shrewd insights. As we stare into Ali's face during the minute interval at the end of round one, Mailer talks us through his probable thought processes."That was the only time I ever saw fear in his eyes." Ali, of course, is the star, besting the sullen Foreman in the build-up with his freewheeling, hilarious braggadocio then outfoxing him in the fight with his"rope-a-dope" technique. Like Ali, the"Rumble In The Jungle" transcended sports in its inspirational significance. -- David Stubbs

The sixth installment of the Rocky series picks up the story of the Italian Stallion 16 years after the morose Rocky V . And sure, at his advanced age, Sylvester Stallone now looks like one of those sides of beef his character used to pound on. No matter. Somehow you buy the premise after all these years, even if it takes forever for Rocky Balboa to stop wallowing in self-pity (Adrian is dead, his old haunts are demolished) and get down to the business of drinking raw eggs and running up staircases. The business at hand is an unlikely exhibition fight with champeen Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), which the near-sexagenarian Mr. Balboa has no business accepting. Of course, just as sure as the horns of Bill Conti's theme music are even now trumpeting through your head, the ol' Rock might have a punch or two left in him. Stallone wrote and directed, and there isn't much to say except that the movie steps in its pre-determined paces with a canny sense of what has come before (it's practically an homage to all the previous Rocky pictures, complete with fleeting flashbacks). Burt Young is around again, and Geraldine Hughes makes an appealing, rather chaste female companion for Rocky. Stallone's Rocky has gotten suspiciously articulate over the years, but he still knows how to slouch. If Stallone never forgets that, he can probably keep the franchise rolling. --Robert Horton