Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali documentary is based on Georgia professor’s 2016 book
ATLANTA — In the early 1960s, firebrand preacher Malcolm X and boxing phenom Cassius Clay became close friends, a fascinating relationship that fell apart and never was repaired before Malcolm X was killed by an assassin in 1965.
That relationship is explored in detail in a new Netflix documentary coming out Sept. 9 called “Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali.”
The documentary by Marcus A. Clarke relies heavily on a 2016 book, also called “Blood Brothers,” co-authored by Georgia Tech associate history professor Johnny Smith and his former academic advisor Purdue University history professor Randy Roberts. Both were consultants on the film and Smith was happy with the final result.
“Being able to participate and tell the story though a different medium was fascinating and fun,” said Smith in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He said he and Roberts spent a long time talking about possible books connected with Ali and decided to focus on this particular relationship, which hadn’t been explored to this level of detail before.
For Ali, Smith said, “this was a really fascinating period in his life as he evolved from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. He was a man of many masks.”
Ali was a gold medalist for Team USA at the 1960 Rome Olympics, then became a comic braggart known as the Louisville Lip. But while he was known for spouting memorably absurd poetry to boxing writers, he had become interested in the teachings of the Nation of Islam as a way to understand where he stood as a Black man in America.
Secretly, Clay began meeting with the leaders and struck up a friendship with Nation of Islam’s Malcolm X, who was intrigued by Clay’s fame and potential to bring more followers to the cause.
The documentary provides added perspective from figures such as civil rights activist Al Sharpton, historian and Harvard University professor Cornel West and University of Southern California professor of cinema and media studies Todd Boyd.
“Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali were the two most freest of Black men in the 20th century,” said West in the doc. “On the other hand, there’s a cross to bear. There is a tremendous cost to being a free and loving person.”
“It was a moment of transition and Ali is really at the forefront of this transition, as is Malcolm,” Boyd said. “They’re changing the way the world saw the Black man.”
The doc shows Ali in the 1960s proclaiming: “I’m free to be what I wanna be and think what I wanna think.”
Malcolm X boldly critiqued the dominance of white society in a way that made many whites and even some Blacks uncomfortable. “By nature he is evil,” Malcolm X said in an archival clip, referencing the white man.
One person the documentary got to interview that Smith did not: Muhammad Ali’s younger brother Rahman Ali, who recalled Malcolm X himself. “He had that air about him,” the younger Ali said. “It was divine. The electricity that came from his body was sacred.”
Smith called Ali’s brother a compelling interview and his voice and intonations evoke his brother, who lost his ability to vocalize his thoughts with the bravado of yore once Parkinson’s Disease set in.
The daughters of both men also received plenty of airtime and are passionate and eloquent.
“Having that level of intimacy on film is hard to replicate in a book,” Smith said.
In 1964, Malcolm X sharply critiqued the behavior of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and was booted from the organization. Ali sided with Muhammad and disavowed Malcolm X.
“Some viewers will be surprised how vengeful and vindictive Ali was after Malcolm was murdered,” Smith said. “He declared him the enemy.”