Panther ★★ 1995 (R)

The Van Peebles family teaches Oliver Stone History 101 with a fictionalized account of the Black Panthers' emergence as a voice for African Americans and as a fixture on the FBI's most wanted list in the late ‘60s. Judge (Hardison), a Vietnam vet forced by the FBI to become an informant, chronicles the activities of leaders Bobby Seale (Vance) and Huey P. Newton (Chong) and serves as witness to the Panthers' rise and subsequent fall into corruption and disintegration. Scatter-shot editing is meant to signify the chaos of the times, but instead adds to the action-flick feel and further detracts from the professed intent of being a message movie. 124m/C VHS, DVD . Kadeem Hardison, Marcus Chong, Courtney B. Vance, Bokeem Woodbine, Joe Don Baker, Anthony Griffith, Nefertiti, James Russo, Richard Dysart, M. Emmet Walsh, Mario Van Peebles; D: Mario Van Peebles; W: Melvin Van Peebles; C: Edward Pei; M: Stanley Clarke.

pan·ther / ˈpan[unvoicedth]ər/ • n. a leopard, esp. a black one. ∎  a cougar.

panther a leopard, especially a black one; originally, an exotic spotted wild cat believed to be distinct from the leopard. Fabulous accounts included the belief that the animal was a hybrid between the lion and the ‘pard’, and that the panther exhaled a sweet fragrance. In later literary use, the panther is also taken as the type of a fierce, powerful, and elusive creature.

panther leopard (but in early use with vague reference) XIII; puma, cougar, jaguar XVIII. ME. panter(e) — OF. pantere (mod. panthère) — L. panthéra — Gr. pánthēr, of Oriental orig.

panther See leopard