Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is an amazingly long and detailed biography about the first black heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. In an era where blacks were, at best, second-rate citizens, Johnson had a brashness and arrogance that made it even more difficult for white America to accept him. And, incidentally, many black Americans disliked him as well. This was because he slept with prostitutes--many of them. And, many of these women were white--a sin which few seemed willing to forgive. As a result, even though he was the undisputed champ, he was often reviled. Many will be amazed at just how horrid the hatred was--with vile comments by supposedly upright citizens and newspaper accounts that are embarrassingly hateful. What happened next, you'll just need to see for yourself--but much of Johnson's downfall, unfortunately, was his own doing."Unforgivable Blackness" is a perfect or near perfect film. Some might balk at the great length of the film, but is grand style and quality are apparent throughout the movie. Incidentally, if you want to see more about this amazing but flawed man, try watching "The Great White Hope" with James Earl Jones, a slight reworking of the story of Johnson.By the way, it's not a major beef, but this show repeats a very commonly accepted myth. While President Woodrow Wilson was a horrible man (don't even get me started...), the comments he supposedly made after seeing the racist film "Birth of a Nation" were actually never made. The Writer Thomas Dixon apparently made up this quote. Do a little research on the web, you'll see what I mean.Also, although they never mentioned it in the film, it was illegal for a black and white couple to marry in many states in the US at the time and remained so until the early 1960s. Sad.

Those looking for a sports documentary will be keenly disappointed. By relying on a ridiculously small number of commentators and sources, Ken Burns has put together a four hour indictment of white America for its past racism and intolerance. The sources not only are limited in number but only one of them--he late Burt Sugar--could claim real familiarity with boxing. And never was there anyone so in love with sound of his own voice. The man simply cannot shut up.The rest all are far-left hacks like Village Voice journalist Jack Newfield or like Stanley Crouch racial militants with nothing relevant to contribute but with a heavy political agenda leading to some very warped judgments about the era in which Jack Johnson lived and the man himself. While Jack Johnson was a great heavyweight, a real genius inside the ring, outside of it he was in no way the icon of racial struggle he is portrayed as here. Any comparisons to Muhammad Ali are far off base.Mike Tyson is the closest parallel with, below the waist, some Tiger Woods into the bargain, and while professional boxing recovered from Jack Johnson with great sportsmen like Gene Tunney and Joe Louis to later hold the title, Tyson has left such a bad smell that the prize ring probably will never recover its former luster.

What a perfect documentary. What a master Ken Burns is. Unforgivable is the story of the indestructible Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, whose legendary style downed even the toughest white contenders inside the ring, and sent almost every white American into a frenzy of racial contempt for him, outside the ring.Jack Johnson is such a rich subject; it seems we could never tire of him. He was the rags to riches American dream. He was the champ who repulsed an entire generation of whites - refuting their fundamental belief that blacks were by nature inferior beings. He was the pioneer that paved the way for future black athletes, who had formerly been relegated to Negro leagues. And he was the social trailblazer as well, integrating with whites in unprecedented and often dangerous ways. Now Burns has reconstructed his life in and outside the ring through this wonderful collection of photos, interviews, film reels and archival documents. In short, I've seen no other documentary that so pungently depicts the black struggle to be accepted, and indeed, free in America.

Ken Burns has done an amazing documentary on the life of Jack Johnson -but even more amazing is the story he tells of the times in which Johnson lived. There is still racism in this country, for sure - one wants to believe that at least in most parts of the country, it is a little more circumspect than racism was during Johnson's life. This documentary provides a truly astounding look at this country at the beginning of the century, and a lot of it is unattractive. Johnson, called "The Ethiopian," could not go after the heavyweight title because the white fighters swore no black man would ever have it. When he finally did get it, Jim Jefferson, the undefeated champion, who had refused to fight Johnson, was dragged out of retirement 10 years and 100 pounds later to try to reclaim the title. He failed, and commented that in his prime, he could never have beat Johnson.In his belief system, Johnson came up against a contemporary, Booker T. Washington, who believed that, rather than worry about segregation, blacks should build a power, education, and money base first. Johnson preferred to live as if segregation did not exist. He lived in white neighborhoods, moved his mother into one, flaunted his money, and consorted with white women. His quest for individualism cost him dearly. He bucked a system that simply would not stand for it.This is a fascinating piece of our history, one that should not be missed.