ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI: 4 STARS We ll never know exactly what was said between Cassius Clay, Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, soul singer Sam Cooke, and football superstar Jim Brown behind closed doors in a Miami hotel room on February 25, 1964, but a new film by Oscar winner Regina King in her directorial debut offers up a fascinating what-if scenario. Going into the boxing ring on that night against heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay (Halifax-born Eli Goree), who had not yet officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali, was a 7-to-1 underdog. When the fight was over, Clay was the youngest boxer to ever grab a title from a reigning heavyweight champion.
As far as high-powered meetings in the 1960s go, one featuring Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, boxer Cassius Clay (soon to be Muhammad Ali), football playe
By Derrick Bang
Enterprise film critic
On Feb. 25, 1964 on the eve of the name change that would prove so controversial Cassius Clay became the world boxing champion after an upset victory over Sonny Liston, during a bout at Florida’s Miami Convention Center.
Following the match, Clay returned to his room at the Hampton House Hotel, where he spent a quiet evening with friends Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown under the watchful eye of Nation of Islam security. Nobody knows what they talked about at least, not to any great degree but playwright Kemp Powers became obsessed by the notion of what
The potential pitfalls of a movie that brings together Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown for a night on February 25, 1964, seem so numerous,