Hey folks, Harry here... Today is Muhammad Ali's 65th Birthday. We don't celebrate many birthdays here on AICN. Sadly - we tend to write too many obituaries. However, today - I was awoken by my fiancee bringing me my cel phone - "Return your father's call!," she was saying. It was a ruse, she wanted me to return the call, so I would wake up and cook her nachos. I love her, so I'll do it, but mainly - I was going to relish her attempting to wake me.

I call dad, "Harry, it's Muhammad Ali's 65th birthday - they're playing all his great fights on ESPN Classics. They're about to show Clay vs Liston #1 - you ought to check it out!"

Definitely an odd way to wake up, usually - I don't get woke up this way. But, I woke up and wiping sleepy from my eyes, I turned on ESPN Classics on my big screen and watched Ali beat Liston, then some white Canadian guy that stumbled through 15 rounds getting beat up on - and then they showed the Rumble In The Jungle. It was the original fight broadcast... terrible sound, blurry images... but there I was screaming, "He's gonna Daaaance, Ali Boom Ah Yea! Ali Boom Ah Yea!" Patricia staring at me as I just smiled and smiled and teared up as I watched the beauty of the Rope A Dope. The greater glory of a crazy David and a Goliath moment in history.

I love Muhammad Ali.

I'm a child of the seventies... that means JAWS, STAR WARS, DISCO, TRAVOLTA, NEAL ADAMS, Badass Cinema, the birth of action figures, MEGO dolls... oh and fucking ALI WAS A GOD!

I remember when he fought that last fight against Spinks in 78. When he lost - I was fucked up about that for days. Ali fought Superman... and fucking won!

Watching that shitty quality version of the Rumble In The Jungle made me want to see the fight the way it was meant to be seen... I needed to see WHEN WE WERE KINGS. The greatest sports documentary of all time - and possibly the most awesomely entertaining and thrilling documentary ever made.

That's what I'm here to write about.

I know, I know - this isn't upcoming news, this isn't a movie coming to a theater near you, dammit. It should be. I wish it were. WHEN WE WERE KINGS is awe-inspiring on the big screen.

I put the dvd on my projector and goddamn what a great time. Showing it to Yoko - watching her eyes grow wide watching Ali flow - long before flowing was a recognized artform. Ali is beautiful in the film. Watching Norman Mailer and George Plimpton... wax on about the impossibility of the fight Ali had before him. The context for the fight, the way Ali projects the result of the fight until it is so.

It is amazing to watch. The power of convincing yourself of something so strongly that it becomes reality.

Then there's just the music - the photography and the brilliant editing. The film is simply my favorite documentary - and it's about one of my favorite figures in history.

I had the amazing fortune of watching a movie with Muhammad Ali once. My good friend Glen Oliver - he used to run Coaxial back in the earliest days of AICN - we miss him around here - but back in the days of Emmerich's GODZILLA - we took a trip to the world premiere in Madison Square Garden. Sitting directly behind us was Muhammad Ali. To our side, was the Taco Bell Dog... The place was a madhouse. One of the most amazing premieres and experiences I've ever had.

However, the next day - on the flight back - we sat in first class with Muhammad Ali - and I did get to exchange a few phrases with the man... and shook his hand. To say - he was and is the coolest man I have ever met, goes almost without saying. Ali is the greatest - and I hope that on this day, he has the greatest of days.