While much attention is paid to the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party has not been as closely examined in popular culture. Apple TV+’s “The Big Cigar” is adapted from Joshuah Bearman’s 2012 article of the same name. (Bearman also wrote the 2007 article on which the 2012 Ben Affleck film “Argo” was based.) The series revolves around the 1974 escape to Cuba of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton ( a precisely calibrated André Holland).
The miniseries highlights his political work within the organization and the systems and decisions that led him to flee the country. Since the show focuses on Newton's departure from Los Angeles to Havana for four weeks under the guise of a film production, the truly fascinating aspects of his legacy are barely touched on. Despite stellar acting, detailed set design, and an electric musical score, “The Big Cigar” never finds solid footing because the center of Newton's story is not in focus.
Creators: Jim Hecht, Janine Sherman BarroisStars: André Holland, Alessandro Nivola, Tiffany Boone
Directed by Don Cheadle, episode 1, “Panther/Producer,” begins with a quick overview of the founding of the Black Panther Party. Acting as narrator, Newton explains the various contradictions of his life, why he and Bobby Seale founded the Panthers in 1966, and the trumped-up murder charge that led to his decision to leave the United States just eight years later.
After being released from prison in 1970, Newton meets film producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) and his best friend and business partner, Steve Blauner (P. J. Byrne). Fascinated with the “Free Huey” campaign, which had grown since Newton's 1967 arrest for allegedly killing a police officer, Schneider decides that a Newton biopic starring comedian Richard Pryor (Inny Clemons) should be next. project of him.
Although the revolutionary activist is initially apprehensive, he is ultimately enchanted by the producer's tenacity and the thousands of donations he gives to Panther survival programs. Although the film is never made, the men eventually form a bond, which is how Newton and his girlfriend, Gwen Fontaine (Tiffany Boone), end up on Schneider's doorstep four years later, evading the Los Angeles police.
Over the course of six episodes, the series details how Blauner and Schneider worked to create an escape plan for Newton under the guise of a fake movie titled "The Big Cigar." Unfortunately, this setback-plagued month-long getaway is one of the least intriguing aspects of the activist's life. Although most of the story shows Newton on the run on foot, by plane, by car, and by boat, flashbacks to his childhood, the founding of the Black Panthers, and his feuds with Bobby Seale (Jordane Christie) and Eldridge Cleaver (Brenton) Allen) are addressed only. in brief flashbacks.
Additionally, Newton's drug use and paranoia are depicted in a few scenes throughout the show, but they are only marginal themes. Newton's growing addiction and mental health problems, exacerbated by his forced isolation in prison and constant surveillance by the FBI and Agent Sydney Clark (Marc Menchaca), could have been explored here. Plus, it's always lovely to see Boone, who was so good in Prime Video's "Hunters," in any role, but she has almost nothing to do. Throughout “The Big Cigar,” she is simply an emotional blanket for Holland's Newton. Likewise, while female leaders of the Black Panthers, such as Moses Ingram's Teressa Dixon, kept the group from falling apart when the men were killed, imprisoned, or forced into exile, their contributions are barely examined in this story.
The series progresses at a dizzying pace. However, episode 5, “Lost Paradise,” is the strongest of “The Big Cigar” because it slows down a bit. Additional information comes to light about the incident and the arrest that required Newton to flee. Additionally, his relationship with his father, Walter (Glynn Turman), which was a catalyst for his desire to change the status quo for African Americans, is also brought to the fore.
Although Newton's escape to Cuba was certainly major news when it occurred, “The Big Cigar” fails to capture how much is at stake in the event. Furthermore, the show never makes clear the depth of the friendship between Newton and Schneider. Bored by his own circumstances as a rich Hollywood bigshot, Schneider's decision to help Newton seems rather self-indulgent, slipping into the realm of a Great White Taste.
Huey P. Newton was a very complicated person. However, one cannot underestimate his contributions to the Black Panther Party, whose free breakfast for children is still used in schools across the United States.
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