Panther | |
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The movie poster for Panther.
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Directed by | Mario Van Peebles |
Produced by |
Preston L. Holmes Mario Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles |
Screenplay by | Melvin Van Peebles |
Based on | Panther by Melvin Van Peebles |
Starring | |
Music by | Stanley Clarke |
Cinematography | Edward J. Pei |
Edited by | Earl Watson |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Gramercy Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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123 minutes |
Language | English |
Box office | $6,834,525 |
Panther | |
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Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
Released | May 2, 1995 |
Recorded | 1994-1995 |
Genre |
Hip hop R&B |
Length | 77:23 |
Label | Mercury Records |
Producer | Various artists |
Singles from Panther | |
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | link |
Panther is a 1995 film directed by Mario Van Peebles, from a screenplay adapted by his father, Melvin Van Peebles, from his novel of the same name. The film portrays the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, tracing the organization from its founding through its decline in a compressed timeframe. Creative license is taken but the general trajectory of the Party and its experiences is factual.
The film is notable for its strong cast: including American actors Angela Bassett, Kadeem Hardison, Bobby Brown and Chris Rock, who later became prominent in film and television.
The film focuses on the rise and decline of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, known as the Black Panthers, during the Black Power movement and disenchantment with nonviolent resistance as a tool in the Civil Rights Movement. It explores the COINTELPRO program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which was an effort to track and disrupt African-American political movements.
The drama alleges that various Mob networks cooperated directly with the United States Intelligence Community (FBI/CIA) representatives to "flood" inner-city ghettos, which contained majority black populations, with hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. The ending's structure and concluding voice-over alleges that The Mob (possibly Italian) in the United States agreed to produce and distribute quantities of these types of drugs on an unprecedentedly large scale. Purportedly, only agreed-upon "problem areas" of Black Panthers' potential support would be targeted, so as to "pacify" those populations.