A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
In the fall of 1970, celebrities flocked to Atlanta for Muhammad Ali's comeback fight. He'd been out of the ring for more than three years after refusing to serve in the Vietnam War. The new Peacock series "Fight Night" tells how a party after the fight turned into a historic and infamous heist. NPR critic Eric Deggans offers this review.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: "Fight Night" begins with Kevin Hart and Samuel L. Jackson in a scene reminiscent of a certain moment from the classic film "Pulp Fiction." Once again, Jackson's playing a tough-talking criminal holding a gun on a nervous man, this time played by Hart.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST")
SAMUEL L JACKSON: (As Frank) When I pull this trigger and put your lights out, and you standing at the pearly gates, what you got to say to God?
KEVIN HART: (As Chicken Man) I don't know, Frank.
JACKSON: (As Frank) You do believe in God, right? Then testify.
HART: (As Chicken Man) Frank, please.
JACKSON: (As Frank) Testify.
DEGGANS: But that's getting ahead of things. To understand how these two men got here, the story flashes back two weeks, introducing us to Hart's character, a fast-talking hustler in Atlanta nicknamed Chicken Man. He's a little guy with big dreams, convinced his hometown is moving up because of how it recovered from the Civil War.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST")
HART: (As Chicken Man) Yeah, but Atlanta rose up, rebuilt. How we do that? Because a Black folk. That's how we did it. We know our history, but we don't let that history [expletive] up our hustle.
DEGGANS: Chicken Man's hustle involves hosting a party for a big gangster, Jackson's Frank Moten. This party is set after Muhammad Ali's legendary fight against a white boxer, Jerry Quarry. Yes, this is a story set 54 years ago, packed with afros and platform shoes, merging a crime drama with a heist drama with a touch of blaxploitation cinema to build a tale about how Moten got robbed at his own party.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DEGGANS: Based on a 2020 podcast about real events, "Fight Night" tells its story with style and a little '70s soul - like here, when Moten's employee lists the party guests, all oddball gangsters who are members of a crime syndicate called The Firm.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST")
HART: (As Chicken Man) OK, hold on. Who the hell is The Firm?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) The Firm is the council of all top Black bosses across the nation. Mushmouth rules Detroit. Now, he'll snatch a car straight off the assembly line. Missouri Slim is holding down Kansas City. Now, don't let his penchant for hot presses and manicures fool you because that man is a real goon.
DEGGANS: The series is filled with great performances, from Taraji P. Henson as Chicken Man's partner to Don Cheadle as a straight arrow police officer who becomes Ali's reluctant bodyguard. It should feel like an overstuffed affair, like a party with too many guests squeezed on the dance floor. But instead, when one story sags, like Chicken Man's work organizing a party, another one picks up. For example, Cheadle's Detective J.D. Hudson is a Black man looked down on by white cops and many Black people. Hudson hates Ali for resisting the draft, but a Black politician tells him to get over his feelings because guarding the champ will help the detective's image with Black people.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) They tell me you was one of the first Black cops on the force. But you couldn't arrest white people. Hell, you couldn't even shower at the damn station. You'd rather eat a bowl of nails than guard Ali. That sound about right?
DON CHEADLE: (As J.D. Hudson) Picked up on that, did you?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) I did. Now, inside of 10 years, this is going to be a Black city. So I suggest you find yourself a new act because this little John Wayne thing you got going ain't going to work much longer.
DEGGANS: "Fight Night" really takes off after Moten is robbed and tears up Atlanta looking for the thieves. It's a compelling, raucous, entertaining mix which looks at a pivotal moment in Black America through a new lens, which makes "Fight Night," in my book, quite the knockout.
I'm Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF DANIEL SALINAS' "STRAUSSMANIA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
