Name: Thrilla in Manila
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2008-11-11
Rating: 7.8

2008

Documentary1h 30m

🍅86%

🍅

86%

Tomatometer

🍿

86%

Popcornmeter

7.8

TMDB

Storyline

On October 1, 1975, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali was in the ring with his arch rival Joe Frazier for the third time. This fight in the Philippines, which has been nicknamed "Thrilla in Manila," is considered one of the most dramatic boxing matches in history - in the words of the voice-over, "They hated each other." With the help of archive material and eyewitness accounts (including Imelda Marcos), this documentary not only reconstructs the match, but shows us what was happening behind the scenes as well.

Details

DirectorJohn Dower

ReleasedNov 11, 2008

Reviews

5 reviews · 4 critics

3 fresh · 1 rotten

Todd McCarthy

RTVarietyJan 30, 2009

Unavoidably fascinating, especially for fight fans, due to the participation of Frazier and other survivors of the era.

Andy Dehnart

RTReality BlurredApr 2, 2020

It fails to answer the intriguing question posed at the beginning about why Ali has been so elevated by history and Frazier mostly forgotten.

Simon Gallagher

RTWhat CultureMay 3, 2014

Whether it is due to the almost-pantomime way that Ali is vilified throughout, without suitable riposte, or the quasi-grotesque manner in which Frazier comes across on screen, the overall resolution is one of melancholy and not, sadly, of triumph.

Cathleen Roundtree

RTBoxoffice MagazineJan 20, 2009

Perhaps Thriller in Manila will set the record straight.