Original subtitles

They say it's a nation of laws.

But what governs everything in the universe is the law of contradictions.

It's how I, Huey P. Newton, was set free into a prison.

It's how the image captured the man.

Contradictions that would have me south of the border running for my life.

The conditions of hate, forcing me to flee with true love.

The Black Panther Party founder with two Hollywood producers.

While the government of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness...

pursues us for exercising our rights based on their laws.

Contradictions. Murderous feds posing as peaceful hippies.

A war-mongering nation declaring us the greatest threat to its security.

All power to the people!

Huey!

Contradictions. When they stop, life ceases.

And contrary to propagated belief, I'm not living to die.

But I am refusing to live without liberation.

The story I'm about to tell you is true.

At least mostly true-- At least how I remember it.

But it is coming through the lens of Hollywood,

so let's see how much of my story they are really willing to show.

Huey?

What's happening? Why are you dressed like that?

The FBI is after me, say I killed some girl. Some bullshit.

I gotta get off the street.

Were you followed?

I think we're clear.

Hey, Jeffrey. Go out back, peek over the hedges,

and see if anyone suspicious is parked on the street.

Sure, Dad.

- What the fuck is going on? - They framed him.

- You know the feds are watching me too. - What are you talking about?

Since we got back from China, they've been tracking my movements.

I got a copy of my FBI file.

- You see? - It's okay.

By morning, you're gonna be number one on the most wanted list.

The first place they're gonna look is right here.

Right. So where am I supposed to go?

Bert took Gwen and I to the dude who's been cleaning up his shit

since they were five years old,

his producing partner, Steve Blauner.

I didn't know I was having company.

Come on in.

You can't have an accused killer in this house, Steve. I will leave you.

Go back to your ex-wife if you wanna play fucking cops and robbers.

Your brother stayed here for a month,

- stunk up the place with flatulence-- - Come on. Don't even.

I had to throw that mattress away.

- Listen. What Steve's trying to say-- - Stay out of it Bert. You--

Do you know that he's got hemorrhoids because of you?

- Jesus fucking Christ. - I cause hemorrhoids?

Oh, yeah. Stress.

When a person gets stressed,

they tighten up their sphincter and put pressure on the rectum.

Steve's had hemorrhoids since he was seven.

This is bullshit.

I'll be in the john moisturizing my asshole.

Okay. We're good.

A massive nationwide manhunt is now underway.

Huey P. Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party

is wanted in the shooting of a 17-year-old Bay Area prostitute.

Oakland police are searching for a burgundy '56 Pontiac

with the license plate H7J...

It's all gonna be okay.

It is all gonna be okay.

Yeah.

This was not my first run-in with the law.

My family moved to Oakland from Louisiana when I was seven,

expecting it to be different.

Within two hours

the cops pulled my pops out of the car and roughed him up in front of us.

Now you might see the police as protection,

but to us they're an occupying army in our community.

Now, fast-forward to 1967, and ain't nothing changed.

Police were still beating and killing Black people in the streets.

But Bobby and I decided to do something about it.

So, what California statute says it's illegal to shoot a whale

from a moving car or a crop duster?

A crop duster? Nah, man.

It's illegal to shoot any game or marine mammal from a car,

unless it's a whale.

It's 3002.

Goddamn. Now, why did they do that?

A better question, how you know that?

Got my head in the books, man.

Say, what you think about

Black Panther Party For Revolutionary Action?

I don't know, brother. That's a whole lot of words.

Hey, brother, we getting low on gas, man.

- How much longer do you wanna do this? - Right there.

That's Lil Bobby from the center.

The fuck is this?

Who the hell do you think you are?

- The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. - The what?

- You heard me. - Drop your weapons.

We here to make sure that this citizen's rights are not being violated.

You have no basis in law to take my weapon.

California code 119.2 says

I have the right to carry this weapon on public property,

so long as it is not being concealed or brandished in a threatening manner.

Call for backup.

Man, the cops did not like this.

But the community did.

And the party took off.

You know, I was thinking, I get my own gun.

And be out there with you and Bobby, patrolling the police.

You know, that's where it's at.

Slow down, young blood. Your time will come.

Dig it, man. The party is an organization, right?

And organizations have structures. Members have positions.

And everybody's gotta contribute in their own way.

Now, your mama tells me that you pretty good at math?

Sound like a treasurer to me.

Well, I can be a treasurer if you want, but that's not revolutionary. You know?

I wanna be out in the streets too.

Yeah, see... Che?

Che was a revolutionary and a doctor.

Fanon was a revolutionary and a psychiatrist.

And now, Lil Bobby can be a revolutionary and a treasurer. You dig?

Tell me, man. What is that's got you so--

so fired up to go out there and risk your life?

I'm sick of white people treating us like three-fifths a person.

I'm sick of police hitting us in the back of the head.

And I'm tired of the mold in my apartment.

I wanna change it all.

What do you think? Is that possible?

I think that if we can organize the people,

I think that if we can listen to the people

and if we can fight for the people--

and if young cats like you, right, get out there and carry the baton,

man, I don't think there's anything we can't accomplish. You dig?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Folks joined from all over. Kids like Lil Bobby.

But when white folks saw Black people with guns, Ronald Reagan flipped out.

I see no reason why, on the street today,

a citizen should be carrying a loaded weapon.

We went to the State Capitol to debate the bill.

And we believe this racist law was designed

to keep Black people unarmed against the fascist police

who continue to brutalize us on a daily basis.

But the NRA and GOP teamed up to pass gun control.

Contradictions.

When Malcolm X's widow arrived on the anniversary of her husband's death,

we showed up at the airport to provide escort.

That's when Eldridge Cleaver became a Panther.

And I became a symbol of the party,

which put me in the crosshairs of every cop in the country.

This shit again.

Cowardly motherfucker.

Well, well. The great Huey P. Newton. Step out of the car.

- Why? I'm not stepping out of my car, man. - Get out of the car.

What's the cause for getting me out of my car? Did I break any laws?

Step out of the car.

Be cool, man. Be cool.

- Right there's fine. - Why you hassling me, man?

- You go right there. - Man, why you hassling me?

- Excuse me? What did you say to me? - Am I under arrest?

- Am I under arrest? - Where's your gun, Huey?

- I thought you had a gun. - Nobody said nothing about no gun.

- You the motherfucker with a gun. - Thought you fuckers carried guns.

This racist-ass motherfucker talking about a gun?

If I did have a gun, pig, I have a right to carry a gun.

- Article one, section one... - Fuck is this?

...of the California constitution

guarantees my right to defend myself, my life, and my liberty.

I don't give a fuck about your life and your liberty.

- I will do so under the second amendment-- - This nigger's got a gun.

- You a fucking racist-ass pig. - You got a gun. This nigger's got a gun.

- Nigger? Are you saying "nigger"? - Yeah, you got a--

They said I had a gun. But I didn't.

They said I killed a cop.

Lot of bullets was flying that night, but none was mine.

Didn't matter.

Threw me in the soul breaker.

Fuck you, pig.

Three years in solitary for a murder I didn't commit.

My mind was torn apart.

Everything I did wrong, every regret, every fear.

Then I heard what happened to Lil Bobby.

They wanted to see me destroyed.

Our freedom for our political prisoners. Our Black--

We want the end of police brutality--

End of police brutality.

I couldn't give 'em that.

Yet somewhere deep inside, I knew I had to fight.

For him and for everyone who needed us.

Somehow the message, the ideas, they brought me back.

They tried to break me but they couldn't do it.

I got my mind right.

Then my conviction was overturned, so they did what they did,

what they had to do.

Cleaned me up, and said I was free to go.

Free? Yeah, right.

I was set free a marked man, and worse, a goddamn idol.

Free Huey! Free Huey!

Power to the people!

More power to the people!

Let's just do what we gotta do.

- Bert, studio wants to stunt cast this. - They want Monte Landis.

- I think we should think about Rock. - Hudson?

No, the Rock of Gibraltar.

"Celebrity" is its own kind of prison.

But that's how these producers took notice.

- Bert Schneider and Steve Blauner. - I am free!

See, Bert's dad ran Columbia.

He scored his pops a cash-cow with the Monkees,

but wanted to kill the golden goose to make a biker pic.

With all you have, and all the meshugas in this world,

can't you just leave it alone and enjoy your life?

Like you did, Pop?

Bert's father remained silent during the McCarthy trials.

Some of us can't just sit on the side.

I'll distribute the stupid biker thing, but I'm not paying for it.

It's your money, your bet.

Mine is, you're gonna lose your shirt.

Bullshit. There's gonna be lines around the block.

That stupid biker thing turned out to be Easy Rider.

And there were indeed lines around the block.

Talk about a star. That guy's a fucking star.

Here we go.

Bert was tired of cultural revolutionaries,

and when he saw me he saw cinema verité.

- Real revolution. - Right on!

Ho Chi Minh in the home land.

And he could never turn that off.

Say, man, who are all these people, man?

I don't know who half these people are. Where's Gwen?

Gwen's with the kids, but it's good to have you back, brother.

Ain't out the woods yet, man. Still got another trial.

Another expensive trial.

Between you, Ericka, George Jackson, the Siete de la Raza, it all adds up.

Hell, we need gas.

Help get folks up to see our comrades in prison.

I hear that, sister.

I know y'all hear that, but are you listening?

We're running on empty.

I got somebody to help lighten the load on legal fees, gas, you name it.

Anything else you might need.

Teressa was a rising star within the party.

Who the hell is Berton Jerome?

Bert Schneider. A friend of Elaine's.

- Wonderbread? - Whole lot of bread.

Produces movies. Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces.

Got one coming out later this fall, Last Picture Show.

The party could use Bert's money to support the survival programs.

Hollywood is the fast track to capitalist co-optation.

You got that right.

You disagree?

He wants in. He's willing to do whatever it takes.

White mother country radicals already in the movement, brother.

Look at the Freedom Riders, Young Patriots.

They got a role to play if they willing to play.

Sounds like something to consider, Brother Huey.

Let me explain something to you.

All right. Them Appalachian white folks.

Them working class thugs.

They ain't Hollywood. They poor folks just like us. You dig?

The police whoop their ass, just like us.

They got rats in their walls and cockroaches in their cereal, just like us.

They don't want in the movement, brother. You understand?

They don't want in the movement.

What they want is to survive.

And they can dig that the Black Panther Party will help them

more than any white police officer, any white politician ever would.

Right on.

So, Brother David is right.

We gotta find another way.

I don't want us getting mixed up in no Hollywood.

Tell your pops he's all paid up.

- All right. - All right.

Are you crazy? Out here on your own. No protection.

Can't be scared to be on the streets with our own people, Teressa.

Yeah.

- All power to the people. - All power to the people, brother.

You know, my pops worked harder than anybody I've ever seen, his whole life.

- It's good to have you home, brother. - Thank you, sis.

He had two, three jobs at a time, always paid his bills...

never got in trouble with the law. Never--

- See you at the rally next week. - All right.

Never got ahead either. You know, always a half step better than broke.

You get money for your programs, you can change all that.

- Brother Larry-- - Hey, Brother Larry's a sucker.

He talks a good game, but he ain't never been in no fight.

- It ain't always about fighting. - It is about fighting, Teressa.

My father always said, "Always look 'em in the eye. Always advance."

I can tell you everything you need to know about a man by what he does in a fight.

Well, I'll tell you this, for what you wanna do, you should check out Bert.

Did you give him some, Teressa?

Oh, shit. You did, didn't you?

Guess you got that $100,000 thing, huh?

Well, you should know. Can't put a price tag on perfect.

But no.

Huey, my daddy didn't struggle like yours did. He split.

And my mom had it twice as hard raising us on top of all those jobs.

I think about all she did to get me here.

And how much it would have meant to lighten the load just a little bit.

Just give him a shot, Huey.

You did give him some, didn't you?

I ain't saying nothing.

I heard somebody say Jack Nicholson was gonna be in here.

Oh, shit. Brando! I gotta thank him for what he said at my thing.

- I'ma go find Bert. - All right.

Damn. Huey motherfucking Newton.

- Richard Pryor. - What's happening?

Bert trying to get down with the Panthers?

- Yeah, he's trying, brother. - Far fucking out.

Say, man, what do you think about these white folk?

This here is a special breed of honky.

One that, deep in their genes, they got a lot of guilt.

They willing to pay a steep price for absolution.

Now here come the best argument yet for segregation.

Bert, dig.

Richard Pryor as Huey P. Newton in The Huey Newton Story.

Well, don't we look alike?

- Not really. - Damn.

The one time I need a white guy who can't tell us apart, I get the pasty Panther.

Now he'll probably get Warren Beatty or somebody.

Put some shoe polish on his face and have him play you. Ain't that right?

I'ma let y'all talk y'all business.

I'ma tell all my people I met you tonight.

- They gonna shit. - Same, brother.

Play nice.

- Be cool. - I'm cool.

Let me show you around.

I think I get it.

There's really nothing to get. Could all burn tomorrow.

I don't know, man. Look like to me you got it made in the shade.

Why you wanna mess around with us?

Well, who says I'm messing?

Can't be no other way.

Revolution's survival to me. It's optional to you.

That's exactly why I gotta do it.

Look, America's not Cuba.

You're not gonna overthrow the government with 42 people hanging out in the jungle.

You have to change the way that people think.

Yeah, that's cool for you down here.

But in Oakland, we're fighting a low-grade guerrilla war every day.

Look at that thing in Algeria.

Look at Algeria.

People fought, and they didn't let go.

Okay, no, I'm talking about The Battle of Algiers.

- The movie. - Right.

That's the cri de coeur for all those kids out in the streets.

All right.

Yeah, a lot of kids saw it, and it got 'em high on revolution.

That movie minted fighters.

That's the power of the silver screen.

Hollywood's always been late to the party,

but these people are trying to change all that.

You're looking at the world's best storytellers,

and there's no politics without a story.

Yeah, but what story you trying to tell? And why should you tell it?

No, not tell it.

Just make it possible.

I wanna finance the revolution.

- In order for people to survive, right... - Yeah.

...they have to understand how to survive in this racist system.

But it's all about consciousness.

- Gotta raise it. - Then the people will pick up the gun.

- Nah, I'm putting the gun aside. - Go after the superstructure.

- Capitalism is the cornerstone. - Gotta knock out that block.

We're doing it block to block.

Up in Oakland, right, we're educating our own.

We're feeding our own, clothing, shelter, and health care.

So you nationalize the community.

Show the lumpenproletariat that they can do better than the imperialists.

So you do it up there,

and then other communities will see what's possible.

Fire is lit. The revolution starts to spread.

This is a dangerous idea.

You're gonna be the most dangerous man in America.

You ask J. Edgar Hoover, I already am.

Smoke this.

You know, I'm not trying to control your message.

I'll do whatever the party needs.

Propaganda for the people.

And what happens when the law comes knocking

or these studios stop taking your call?

Well, I have a saying when we pick projects.

"If it's not worth risking everything to do, it's not worth doing."

Right. What about your life?

What would you die for, Bert?

Well, I think what you're really asking is,

how full of shit am I?

Seems like I'm always measuring my actions against my convictions

and coming up short.

If I take this money, who am I accountable to?

Nobody.

That's not how I work.

I hire the best artists, and I give them free rein.

Jack, isn't that right?

He writes the checks and stays away.

I let the talent tell the story.

Right.

- Right. And who do you see as the talent? - Well, I think that's obvious.

The face of the revolution has to be you.

And by me, you mean...

You mean the guy in the chair with the rifle and spear.

Yeah.

The baddest motherfucker on the planet.

Think about it.

What is it? Did I say something wrong?

No. He just doesn't feel it's the right direction for the party.

What direction? I throw money his direction.

He can do whatever he wants.

He doesn't wanna get in bed with Hollywood.

Let me come up there and meet with him again.

- Five minutes, he owes me that. - Owes you?

Bert, he doesn't want to.

Everybody wants to meet with me, I'm Bert fucking Schneider.

Once we get in there I need you to handle it, all right?

Huey! Huey.

Man, are you tailing me?

No.

Well, kinda.

Can you please just give me five minutes?

I wanna help, that's all.

I can help you finish building the houses.

I can help build the schools. I can help build the clinics.

Right. And then what?

Then you wanna put your name over the door?

Of course not.

Yeah, you say that now,

but, once you write that check, you gonna want something for it.

Like what?

Well, you gonna want people to know.

Not my style.

Look, I know you mean well, but see, the thing is,

we got money coming in from our own people now.

So, there just ain't no place in the movement

for a Hollywood white boy, you dig?

- Huey, he-- - Don't start with me, Teressa.

I ain't saying nothing.

Hey, listen.

Only the people can transform society, Teressa. Not stars.

Now, I don't want Hollywood sidetracking us.

That's not protecting the party.

You worried about them sidetracking the movement or sidetracking you?

Same thing.

Got a report of loitering.

What you guys doing, huh?

- Penal code 647H PC... - Penal code.

...makes it a crime for a person to loiter on someone's property--

- Who the fuck-- - You motherfu--

Watch my mouth?

- You call me a cracker? - Yeah, pig.

- Yeah, I did. Fuck you, cracker. - Be cool.

Are you out of your head...

Get your fucking hands off her.

Why y'all always fucking with us? Why you always fucking with us?

What are you two doing? Are you crazy? We'll run you in.

- Get the fuck out of here. - Fucker.

Fuck you and all the niggers that follow you.

Hey, whoa! Officer!

- They weren't doing anything. - Get away from me.

- Back up! - I'm Bert Schneider.

I'm here from Los Angeles.

Back the fuck up! I don't give a shit!

Hey, you get your hands off me. Don't you touch me!

Fuck you!

- You got him. You don't need... - Back up!

This is bullshit.

A massive nationwide manhunt is now underway.

Huey P. Newton is wanted in the shooting of a 17-year-old Bay Area prostitute.

So that's how I ended up here,

hiding out in a little girl's bedroom in a mansion in Bel Air.

It's all gonna be okay.

Bert's gonna get you that fancy white lawyer.

We were in his house for five minutes, and he shoved us out the door.

You know you couldn't get rid of Bert if you tried.

He'll come through for us.

They sound extremely confident.

The state says they have shell casings, forensics, eyewitnesses.

It's a frame-up, Bill.

You know, their eyewitness is a streetwalker.

Probably coercing her six ways to Sunday.

Huey didn't kill that girl.

This is a setup.

You should get as far away from this as possible.

You're harboring a fugitive.

If you destroy evidence...

You're not destroying evidence, are you?

You've never heard the words "Huey" or "Newton".

- We need the car in the hole. - Shut the fuck up. You're robbing me.

Fucking sold!

- Of course not. - No.

- Why would we do that? - Little offended at the suggestion.

Good.

Huey's only chance right now is to turn himself in.

You're out of your fucking tree.

I can't look at their evidence and start to fight till after he's in custody.

He was in solitary for 34 months. He'd die sooner.

Then you probably all will.

Wait, I'm sorry. What?

If he keeps running, they will find him.

They will kill him and anyone he's with.

They created SWAT specifically to raid Panthers.

This isn't a movie, Bert. There won't be any knock at the door.

There won't be a warrant. They'll just--

Did you hear that?

What? Do you hear that?

Let's go.

What was that?

Bert, let's just go.

- We should go. - Shit.

- Move! Move! Move! - Fuck! Shit!

Shit!

It'll go something like that.

If you love Huey, don't let him martyr himself.

Get him to come in.

I mean, I can dig this. You out here hiding in plain sight, huh?

Figure that's the last place they'd think to look for me.

That shit I got from Big Bob.

You know I met his scary ass in an alley?

That is one morose motherfucker right there, man.

I mean he ain't crack nary a smile, you dig?

Consider that my contribution to the revolution.

Thank you, brother.

Scared?

Shit, I get nervous just going up telling jokes sometimes.

I mean, I can't imagine what you're going through.

After Malcolm and Martin.

Man, I always knew I was living on borrowed time, man.

I always knew I was gonna die for the revolution.

That don't mean I ain't scared.

That's the definition of courage right there.

Doing it anyway.

That or insanity.

Shit. I mean, I can't keep the two straight.

Me neither, man.

Uh-oh.

Too slow. No.

- Okay. You got me. - Hey. There's my guys.

I love this duo, huh?

All right. Hey, Mike, what-- Let's let Uncle Bert and Huey talk, okay?

Come on.

- Fine. - All right, fine.

- Bye, Huey. - Give me five.

- All right. - Don't let me catch you. C'mon.

How's Kunstler?

He all fired up for a fight?

He thinks you should turn yourself in.

And did you tell him to go fuck himself?

I see how it is.

After all that?

"I always wanna be down with the movement",

but when the rubber meets the road, suddenly you a pedestrian?

Gwen.

Gwen! We leaving!

Look, nobody wants to see you in prison, and nobody wants to see you dead either.

Actually, a lot of people wanna see me dead, Bert.

You think cops don't kill niggas in the pen?

"I'll do whatever it takes to be down with the movement, Huey."

Those were your words.

Knew it was jive when you said it.

How's it help the movement if you're dead?

There's nowhere in the country you can hide where they won't find you.

That's why I'm leaving the country.

- This isn't gonna work. - And tell me why not.

They're expecting you at every crossing.

You're gonna need disguises, transportation, a whole ton of shit.

Where you gonna stay when you get where you're going?

How are we gonna keep you from being extradited?

- It's logistically impossible. - Yeah. Well, I will figure it out, Bert.

It's not that simple.

You're the hotshot producer, man. You wanna produce something? Produce this.

How about we put you in a car to Canada--

No. Man, they'd hunt me down like the Weathermen.

Well, we can't do Mexico, either. Not with those fascists in power.

You gotta be dry-humping me this is what's happening.

- Hush. This is good. - I'm sorry, is this not my house?

Gotta be a place with no extradition.

- It's gotta be communist. Tanzania or-- - China?

Algeria.

No. Hell no. That's where Eldridge is.

Cuba.

Cuba.

Believe the suspect is at the house.

He's believed to be armed and dangerous. All units proceed with caution.

Ninety miles off the coast of Florida.

- Castro would welcome you with open arms. - Wait a second.

You're not actually considering this, are you?

Bert, what's he gonna do?

No, please, tell me, Huey, what are you gonna do?

You gonna skyjack a plane? Is that what's on the menu?

No, that's déclassé for a revolutionary of his stature.

We'll find another way.

I don't know how yet.

Doesn't matter. It's plot, execution.

It's not execution. We're gonna get executed.

Cuba could work.

It's not gonna work, Bert. Not with the Feds watching us here.

What we do is-- Check it out.

What we do is, we make it look like it's one of your movies.

It's just some cats doing a production.

Exactly. It's a location shoot as far as the Feds are concerned.

We got hair, makeup, wardrobe, travel, a star.

Call Karen Carpenter.

- We're gonna need some cash. - No.

No, we gonna keep the circle small, man.

No. You-- No.

Gentlemen, stop.

Move! Move! Move!

You heard Kunstler, okay?

This is not a movie.

Those bullets are real. They go inside you, the end.

- Steve. - Don't "Steve" me. C'mon.

- Don't look at him. - Steve.

This is me, baby. Come on.

Bert, bring your brain back from lunch.

- Steve. - Buddy, come on.

Let's just go back to our projects, right?

- Let's just go find the next big picture. - Steve, it's over.

I don't care anymore.

We revolutionized movies, big fucking deal.

This, Huey's fight, this is real life.

Something worth risking everything to do.

This is our next big picture.

Check those doors.

Let's get this motherfucker.

What did we do? We were just in a school play.

The fuck are Schneider and Newton?

You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

That's right, y'all remember that hippie Fed who was hunting me down?

And yes, the FBI really did raid Bert's house and a theater-school toga party.

Fuck!

To Cuba.

- To Cuba. - To Cuba.

Hasta la Victoria, siempre.