One Night in Miami (2020) * * *

 

Directed by:  Regina King

Starring:  Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom, Jr., Beau Bridges

One Night in Miami tells the tale of a fictional meeting between four famous Black Americans centering around Cassius Clay's first title bout against Sonny Liston in February 1964.   Clay won the title (I hope that isn't a spoiler) and would soon convert fully to Islam as Muhammad Ali.   Before that, Clay meets up with pals Jim Brown (Hodge), Sam Cooke (Odom) and Malcolm X (Ben-Adir) in a Miami hotel room following Clay's win to relax and shoot the breeze between old friends.   It doesn't work out as intended.  The conversations start light, but soon tread into deeper, murkier waters when they begin to politely discuss then argue about their lives in 1964 America.   Each man has to find himself defending his place as a Black man and what he is doing to advance the cause of his people.   

Clay is heavyweight champion, Cooke is among the world's most successful singers, Brown is the most famous and feared player in pro football, and Malcolm X is teetering on leaving the Nation of Islam which leaves him with far more enemies than friends.   For one night, these men can pour out their souls to each other.   No matter how famous each man is, the one thing each has in common is he will be treated as a second-class citizen in his own country.   An example:   Jim Brown returns to his hometown in Georgia to meet with an old family friend, Mr. Carlton (Bridges).   Carlton tells Jim how proud he is of him and the meeting on the front porch seems warm and inviting.   Then Jim offers to help Carlton move some furniture, and the conversation quickly comes to a shocking end when Carlton states: "You know there are no n***ers allowed in the house."   The hurt on Brown's face says it all, as does the matter-of-fact, shameless way Carlton expresses his house rules.

Each man has had to put up which such blatant racism in his life; and will continue to in the future.  That doesn't stop Malcolm X from accusing Cooke of not using his fame enough to further the Black cause, or for each argument to splinter off into deeper ones.   These men are flawed, complex, and intelligent; each carrying themselves in their unique way and each trying to push on despite their hurt.  Based on his own play, Kemp Powers' screenplay and Regina King's direction don't allow One Night in Miami to appear to be a filmed play.  The conversations grow naturally and in some cases very uncomfortably.   Like any long talk, there are ebbs and flows.   Some parts are more interesting than others, but the underlining emotions remain powerful.

The actors take on the task of portraying four famous men who have been portrayed on screen before and making them fresh and new.   Each performance is not simply an impersonation, but an uncanny humanization of the man himself.   I've seen countless characterizations of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X over the years, and Goree and Ben-Adir bring new dimensions to these famous conflicted men.   We forget for a few moments that Cooke and Malcolm X would both be dead within a year, Muhammad Ali will soon face his greatest challenge when he refused to be drafted into the Army, and Jim Brown will retire from football for a sometimes controversial career in Hollywood and activism.  

For one night in Miami, we see these men as they were, even if the meeting between them never happened.