Don King: Only in America (TV 1997)

A cinematic portrait of the famous fight promoter and boxing manager.

Director:

John Herzfeld

Writers:

Jack Newfield (book), Kario Salem (teleplay)

Stars:

Ving Rhames, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Jeremy Piven

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 8 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ving Rhames	...	Don King
Vondie Curtis-Hall	...	Lloyd Price
Jeremy Piven	...	Hank Schwartz
Darius McCrary	...	Muhammad Ali
Keith David	...	Herbert Muhammad
Gabriel Casseus	...	Jeremiah Shabazz
Loretta Devine	...	Connie Harper
Brent Jennings	...	Dick Sadler
Lahmard J. Tate	...	Carl King
Danny Johnson	...	Larry Holmes
Bernie Mac	...	Bundini Brown
Donzaleigh Abernathy	...	Henrietta King
Lou Rawls	...	Harold Logan
Teddy Atlas	...	Richie Giachetti
Jarrod Bunch	...	George Foreman

Storyline

Biography of fight promoter Don King follows his rise from a street goon convicted of strong arm tactics to a minor music promoter to pulling off his first major fight with Muhammed Ali for a charity. Ving Rhames' characterization gives a fully three dimensional person with warts and all, but still makes it understandable how he became the affluent promoter he has become.

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Plot Keywords:

promoter | boxing | manager | entrepreneur | narrative | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, some violence and nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 November 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Don King: Seulement en Amérique

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), LaFray Inc., Thomas Carter Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When accepting the Golden Globe for "Best Actor In A Miniseries or Made For TV Movie" a tearful Ving Rhames called fellow nominee Jack Lemmon onstage and praised him for being such an inspiration. He then shocked the audience, as well as Lemmon, by giving him the award.

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Quotes

Don King: I had a moment of religious epiphanosity.

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Connections

Featured in The 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1998)

User Reviews

Rate The Movie, Not The Man

I'm not a big fan of ol' Don King although I have no problem saying that I do admire his accomplishments. Let's face it, people. The man hasn't done nothing to boxing that any other boxing promoter hasn't done (or aspires to do for that matter). He's just the best at it. And if history has proved anything, it's that when you're at the top of the mountain, people look to knock you down. There's nothing etched in stone that says that in order to be a good fight promoter, you've got to love your fighter(s). As a matter of fact, you don't even have to LIKE them!! Truth is all of his fighters (most of all, Tyson) knew the risks when they signed with King and a gun wasn't put to any of their heads. I think this movie may rub a few people the wrong way simply because Ving Rhames gave the performance of his life portraying a figure of great controversy from that person's perspective (i.e. King narrates the story by occasionally talking to the camera). King even bashes HBO in the movie and they're the ones who made it (which I thought was quite sporting of them)!! Bottom line, this movie was excellent and should've went to the theaters in my opinion. It would've given more people a more dimensional perspective of the man and the business of the sport. Remember, everyone has some dirt on them (some quite more than others) and perfection should not be expected of another if it cannot be achieved by one's own self.