‘Tyson’ documentary peels all covers off boxer

Former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson needs no prompting to divulge stunning accounts about his druguse, violent behavior, absurd spending habits and other mistakes made in his life.
 

The relationship between filmmaker James Toback and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson dates back more than a decade, and only that type of bond and trust could have resulted in the extraordinary documentary Tyson, which opens Friday.

Seldom will you ever see anyone, no matter how much they might want to repent or confess past misdeeds, open up to the extent that Tyson does in this 90-minute blockbuster, which has very rare footage of the early fighter that many thought had a chance to become the greatest ever in his division.

Toback serves as off-camera interviewer, and he lets Tyson plow his way through his memories of ugly encounters, fiscal mistakes, bad marriages and awful decisions. Tyson freely admits that only the intervention and influence of trainer Cus D’Amato kept him from a life of crime and quite possibly a premature death. Their relationship was the closest thing to a father/son union that Tyson ever experienced, and you can hear in Tyson’s voice and in the quality of respect and reverence he expresses whenever he talks about D’Amato that they truly loved each other.

Tyson has long been known, even in his worst moments, as a savvy student of boxing history and fight technique. That comes across during his descriptions of various bouts. He acknowledges grossly underestimating Buster Douglas, and not being in the kind of mental shape needed to close out the contest. The resulting last round knockout not only shattered the myth of invincibility that had surrounded Tyson up to that point, it set in motion all the bad things that have since happened.

But the one area where the documentary falters concerns Tyson’s problems with women. Just as Spike Lee’s otherwise excellent production about Jim Brown skirted the issue of his alleged abusive conduct in several situations, Tyson tiptoes around some highly publicized and still memorable incidents.

While Tyson will say on the record that he’s been violent towards women in some situations, and it’s crystal clear that the disastrous marriage with actress Robin Givens was the ultimate mismatch, he still won’t come clean about what happened in 1992 and the incident with Desiree Washington. The subsequent rape conviction cost him three years in prison. Tyson adamantly denies it was rape, and Toback goes a bit too far in allowing Tyson to spew a stream of vulgarities in his description of Washington and her claims.

But Toback doesn’t see himself as an interrogator, just the conduit by which Tyson can offer his tale to the audience. There are times when you’d really like him to press a bit harder, but most of the time Tyson offers stunning accounts and damning admissions with little or no prompting. He describes widespread drug abuse, absurd personal spending habits and extremely bad actions during some of his most recent fights, from the ear-biting incident with Evander Holyfield to the last couple of travesties in which he lost matches to unranked journeymen fighters.

Toback doesn’t try to remake Tyson into a sympathetic figure, but he does make you wonder what might have happened if either Cus D’Amato had lived a few more years or Tyson would have avoided contact with Washington.

The most prominent feeling one experiences after watching Tyson, apart from occasionally being shocked by the frankness, is a deep sense of regret at seeing talent squandered while watching someone who remains uncertain about where he’s going in life and what he wants to do.

Tyson
Written and directed by: James Toback
Starring: Mike Tyson
Time: 90 minutes
Rating: R
Our view: Often riveting, despite no attempt to be anything other than a confessional for Tyson. However, it also has plenty of moments that are very sad and troubling.