Where to watch Phantom Punch
1 1/2 Stars
The film starts in 1950 with the future champion locked away in a jail cell, until he discovers boxing from the priest who also serves as the center’s athletic director. In a paint by the numbers screenplay, we follow Liston from his rise to champ through his historic loss to a young Cassius Clay and then his eventual death from a suspicious heroin overdose. Townsend does all he can on an obviously very limited budget, his film is richly detailed as cast effectively. However despite this, the whole production has a made-for-T.V. vibe it just can’t shake. Robbing the story of the impact it might have produced, if it had been given the big screen treatment that ALI benefited from. A well intentioned film that is ultimately undone by it’s conventional and cheap approach. Liston and Rhames deserve better.
Director: Robert Townsend
Stars: Ving Rhames, Stacey Dash, Nicholas Turturro