Picket Signs and Movie Lines

The Scene: Tuesday’s West Coast benefit premiere of Gramercy’s “Panther” at the Motion Picture Academy. The controversial film, directed by Mario Van Peebles and written by his father, Melvin, does for the Black Panthers what Oliver Stone did for the Kennedy assassination--proves that nobody agrees on anything that happened in the ‘60s.

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Who Was There: The Van Peebleses, the film’s stars, Kadeem Hardison, Courtney B. Vance and Tyrin Turner; editor Earl Watson; plus 1,000 guests including Wesley Snipes, Earvin (Magic) Johnson, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bill Duke, Lou Pitt, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Townsend, Blair Underwood, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and John Singleton.

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Added Drama: A dozen picket sign-carrying protesters from the Center for the Study of Popular Culture marched in front of the theater. Spokesman John Herr called the film, “a misrepresentation of what (the Black Panthers) did in their heyday.”

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The Response: Mario Van Peebles said, “I think it’s interesting that when you do a movie where a lot of people are shooting each other in the ‘hood, no one protests. But when you show people starting to organize, then you get protesters.”

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Audience Critique: The controversy over the film’s historical accuracy had little effect on the crowd. As one guest said, “The movie didn’t tell the truth? Well, the government didn’t tell the truth either.”

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Dress Mode: Black leather Panther-wanna-be jackets, nouveau caftans and hip hop-style baseball caps and pullovers.

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Chow: The temptation to have a menu from Black Panther founder Bobby Seale’s 1988 cookbook “Barbeque’n With Bobby” was resisted. From Dulan’s came a selection of Southern-style sweets that included pecan tarts and peach cobbler.

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Money Matters: Tickets were $150 and $75,000 went to the Magic Johnson Foundation, which has now raised close to $7 million for AIDS research and care.

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Working in Hollywood: Mario Van Peebles recounted how potential studio backers always demanded white characters in a movie about the Black Panthers. However, he’s resigned to the reality. “The dominant culture will always put itself in the foreground,” said the director. “Even if Calvin Klein uses a rapper, it’s going to be Marky Mark.”

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Tagline: One guest said the movie’s slogan could be: “Power to the Peebles.”