‘Miami’ warm

It could use more heat, but fictionalized ‘Night’ shared by Black greats engages the mind

They were — and are — four legendary figures, a quartet of black icons who made their impacts in the world through politics, religion, arts and sports. ¶ Malcom X. Muhammad Ali. Sam Cooke. Jim Brown. ¶ These 1960s giants are said to have spent one evening in a Florida motel room conversing after Ali — then known as Cassius Clay — defeated Sonny Liston to become the world heavyweight boxing champion. ¶This meeting served as the inspiration for Kemp Powers to write “One Night in Miami,” an award-winning play that debuted in 2013 and now sees its film adaptation — penned by Powers — landing on Prime Video a few months after debuting at film festivals in Venice and Toronto.

Although he immersed himself in biographies on the four men and dug up what he could about this night, Kemp was left to create a fictional account on what happened in the Hampton House Motel in Overtown, Florida — said to have been a haven for Blacks visiting Miami in those days.

In the hands of first-time feature-film director Regina King, Kemp’s imagined interactions among the men are at times captivating, at others in need

of a bit more dramatic punch.

Ultimately, though, the film’s four lead actors — Leslie Odom Jr., Kingsley Ben-Adir, Aldis Hodge and Eli Goree — push “One Night in Miami” into should-watch territory, if not quite into the realm of the must-see.

We meet each of the four men apart from each other: Cassius (Goree) fighting Henry Cooper in 1963; Muslim leader Malcolm (Ben-Adir) at home with his worried wife as he moves closer to a break with The Nation of Islam; singing star Sam (Odom) bombing at the packed-withwhites famed Copacabana; and Cleveland Browns running back Jim (Hodge) driving to visit a wealthy white associate in Georgia.

The conclusion of Jim’s jovial meeting on the front porch with this Mr. Carlton (Beau Bridges), which sees the muscular Brown offering to help him move some furniture, serves as a reminder of the tenor of the times.

“So considerate of you, Jim, but you know we don’t allow (expletive) in the house, so it’s quite all right,” the older man says casually using the Nword in the friendliest of tones and receiving an icy stare from Jim after his back is turned.

AMAZON STUDIOS Leslie Odom Jr., left, Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Aldis Hodge star as Sam Cooke, Cassius Clay, Malcolm X and Jim Brown, respectively, in “One Night in Miami.”