Snow Job

By R. S.

THE GREATEST

Directed by TOM GRIES Screenplay by RING LARDNER JR.

Anybody around here remember Harmon of Michigan or, even more obscure, Smith of Minnesota? If you do, go to the head of the trivia class. These movies were representative of an antique genre in which sports heroes were invited to turn pro by playing themselves in highly romanticized, but lowly pr duced, versions of their sporting lives.

The Greatest is a direct descendant of this decrepit breed. The scenes are shot and played as if there were no money for retakes, and the script refuses to entertain even a hint that its hero may at any time have acted any role less than that of a natural nobleman.

Perfect Recall. Why, then, is The Greatest such an agreeable experience? The answer is that The Greatest, a.k.a. Muhammad Ali -- who created this role originally for sportswriters and polished it before a thousand television audiences -- has now immortalized it on celluloid with perfect ease and confidence. In real life he has become a bit of a bore, especially as his skills in his higher calling, as perhaps the most artful heavy weight in history, have slipped. But .if he can no longer quite remember what to do in the ring, his recall of his marvelous performances outside it is perfectly intact. He can recreate all his moves with the most engaging fidelity.

They were, of course, the actions of a sublime con artist with a natural instinct for media hype. Ali has it all -- humor, anger both real and feigned, a delicious imagination. He understands that the greatest con artists have always winkingly allowed the audience in on their joke. The Greatest is not a biography but another incident in a biography still to be written. As long as one appreciates that it is really the latest flurry in that blizzard-like snow job Ali has huffed and puffed to keep blowing for well over a decade, then one relaxes cheerfully into this artless and slightly flaky movie.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.