Panther

Panther_720p(480P)

Filmed in the 1990's, depicting the 1960's & still watching the same Police brutality in the 2020's.

This movie was absolutely perfect. The actors were amazing and the true story was on point. Sad to say that this movie still relates to what we are all seeing and experiencing in our world today. Freedom, systematic racism and the right to bare arms is something every American should want and peacefully fight for (which I use peacefully lightly, depending on the circumstances). A must see movie.

The Black Panthers were a fascinating but enigmatic force of the 1960s. Here was a militant organization of black youths that captured the imagination of blacks in the 1960s who had grown impatient with Dr. King's stance of passive resistance. They brought with them the ideal of protecting their own and encouraging young blacks to have pride in themselves. Having said that I have no doubt that a great movie about The Black Panthers is yet to be made. Mario Van Peeble's 'Panther' is not that movie. It's a bloated confused epic more intent on silly conspiracy theories then on facts. It purports to give us and inside look at how the party was founded and how the FBI brought it down but it wastes time on silly plot devices involving the Mafia. The movie's first fatal flaw is that it is narrated from the point of view of a fictional character named Judge. That makes it hard for the viewer to get a foothold in the story. The opening scenes are very effective showing how Bobby Seal and Huey Newton met in a coffee shop one day and began to plan their strategy. I would like to have seen more scenes between these two then maybe I could have made my own assessments about them. We never really get to understand them or what fueled their fire. This movie is more interested in theatrics then in historical accuracy. The movie uses the preposterous theory that J. Edgar Hoover dumped drugs into the black neighborhoods in order to bring about its downfall. The ending scenes are just plain stupid, a shootout in a warehouse with the FBI as they duck behind boxes. It seems easier to drag out an action scene then it does to create good drama. These scenes seem like a cop-out. In reality the party was brought down by pressure and by a conflict of ideas. 'Malcolm X', the best film of 1992, was about personalities and worked because we saw the change in Malcolm from the street hood to an inmate and ultimately a national leader. 'Panther' keeps us at arms length. We never understand the people that we see on screen. Who were these men? What were they fighting for? What motivated them? What went on personally between them that brought them down? These are questions that Peebles apparently doesn't know how to answer.

Mario Van Peebles directs a conspiratorial and fictionalized account of the rise and fall of the Black Panthers in America in the sixties. While the subject is powerful and potent, and could have made a great movie, it is rarely allowed to shine through as it is treated as an action movie. There are shoot outs and fight scenes, and the whole thing looks too slick to be what it should have been; a gritty historical drama.

'Panther' is a superb movie, Exposing the Black Panther Party for what it was before Eldridge Clever took over. It is disturbing, with a lot of blood and swearing, but it tells (most of) the truth, the side no one wants to listen to, that no one wants to believe. Marcus Chong's portrayal of Huey P. Newton is the best part, showing the Revolutionary in a light people never see. Marcus Chong made him a person that people can identify with, carrying his immortality to our modern world. Bravo.

Very little can be told about PANTHER, which amazingly didn't capture the attention of so many. Based on the past turbulent history of 1967-68, it shows off its mean-spiritedness and hatred on the screen. It's a disturbing account involving brutal, racial violence during the era, and a story of the Black Panthers Party who finds truth for justice. There is just one small point of huge proof: an average "blaction" movie that's made as simple-minded entertainment. A far better directing job would have made it stand out with its head held high over the surface.

Revisionism of the sort trowelled out by the makers of "Panther" would be laughable if it weren't for the possibility that someone somewhere might take it seriously. The main point of the movie, made by the otherwise modestly talented Mario Van Peebles, is that the Black Panthers were just a bunch of do gooders being oppressed by a dictatorial government after having the temerity to stand up for their rights. The movie is not without its sardonic side -- at one point (not much of a spoiler, still -- SPOILER -- just to be cautious) the early Panthers start selling books written by the Chinese Chairman Mao, mass murderer, worse than Hitler, to make money so they can buy guns. And who do they sell them too? Foolish white college kids -- it is sort of funny and ironic, black radicals selling a murderous communist book to phony revolutionary white upper class kids in a perfectly acceptable capitalist free market way to fund the purchase of weapons. It's sort of a hoot. Still, you don't see their participation in their murder of an accountant who found problems with their bookkeeping, or the general mentality of Eldridge Cleaver who has said he has delighted in raping women and found it a politically liberating experience. The movie also gives credence to the idea that somehow the U.S. government purposely shipped massive amounts of cocaine into inner city neighborhoods in a conscious attempt to destroy minority communities--a laughable contention thoroughly at odds with the facts. The movie is such a shameless example of extremist pablum that it is easy to laugh at, but hard to completely dismiss since someone somewhere might take this for history.

Sadly, I never heard of this movie until recently. I say sadly because I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some things were definitely dramatized, but the gist of the movie was true to the facts. I had the pleasure of reading the tome, "Black Against Empire" by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. It is essentially the complete history of the Black Panther Party: a 540 page whopper of a book with names, dates, events and more. "Panther" by Mario Van Peebles lines up very well with that book. The entire production was brilliant. It's clear that there wasn't a big budget, yet they secured actors such as Courtney B. Vance, Kadeem Hardison, Bokeem Woodbine, Chris Rock, Bobby Brown, Angela Bassett, Roger Gueneveur Smith, M. Emmet Walsh, and Dick Gregory. I know some of these names won't blow your skirt up, but they're all established actors (except Bobby Brown, he was just a well known name). So, to answer your burning question: yes, it is a favorable movie about the BPP which conversely means it is an unfavorable movie about the police and the FBI. But I'll tell you what, the police don't need much help painting unfavorable pictures of themselves these days. It's just amazing how a movie shot in 1995 about 1967-68 seems right at home in 2020.

source: Panther