A while ago, I was drinking mai tais
poolside at The Ambassador.
I was working on a screenplay with Bert,
and Richard Pryor had signed on to play me.
- Go ahead. - He's like--
You say it like, "I said power to the people."
Come on, man. I don't sound like that.
- Yeah, you do. - Kinda.
If it's gonna be a biopic,
you have to choose a moment in Huey's life that means something.
Don't just make it womb to tomb.
- I want my mom and my pops in it, though. - You know what, Bert? You should be in it.
The establishment honky.
- Don't put me in it. It's not my story. - Come on.
Look, Jack. I done been around Hollywood long enough to know
that it ain't gonna get made unless you put a white person in it.
Yeah, you're right. Put me in it.
You should think about a caper or some other mainstream narrative.
Like how Easy Rider explored youth culture through a heist.
No. It needs to be something more personal.
Maybe about your time in the Soul Breaker?
All right. Now you're talking.
I like that, Gwen.
Yeah. Like deep philosophical shit. An emotional allegory.
Like what it's like to be under the white man's thumb for 400 years
and then stick that thumb right up his ass.
Right. Or we can make it be about the founding of the Panthers
when me and Bobby started.
Get the young people fired up.
All right.
I think we got ourselves a movie, fellas.
We were all high on the revolution.
Everyone said my story was destined for the big screen.
Instead, it ended up way out here...
adrift.
A passenger in the middle of fucking nowhere.
I like to tell you.
Por Americano revolutionaries--
Are you Interpol?
As a professional courtesy,
Federal Bureau of Investigation--
No jurisdiction.
I'm telling you, these men are terrorists, and they will disrupt your government.
How do you know these American terrorists are even here?
I tracked them from Tijuana.
They were ID'd on a four o'clock flight to Puerto Vallarta.
They're hiding on Mexican soil, and I'm here to tell you--
Any revolutionaries on Mexican soil are a Mexican matter.
Fine.
All right, I'll find them on my own.
Señor...
go home.
We will find Mr. Newton.
Rotorhead, hey. What's up, you son of a bitch?
I'm down in PV. Time to muster up. I got a hunting trip for you.
Señor Schneider has the best villa on the island.
You'll be very comfortable here.
What the f--
It's okay.
Say, man, this ain't exactly what we had in mind.
All right, look, you wanted off-the-grid. This is it.
Hey, what is this, man? I mean, no phone? Lanterns?
Look, Huey, two or three weeks, right,
Artie is gonna come sailing into this harbor.
- Then you're on your way to Cuba. - I don't have weeks, Steve.
The Feds could be on my ass tonight.
Look what they did with Lumumba. And he was all the way
over there in Congo.
No, they gonna team up with the Federales.
They gonna send an army up here. And we won't even hear 'em coming.
But you would.
Look over there. Can you see that bell?
That bell only rings to warn people the Federales have come onto the island.
Right, cool. And then what?
It'd be too late, man. We'll be trapped here.
Then you hide. There's a panic room under the stairwell.
And look at this. These drawers have false bottoms.
And look, there are weapons inside.
Don't worry. You're prepared.
Come in.
Nice.
Steve, you can sleep here.
- Come on. - Ay, mira, las condenadas.
No problem. We get a new blanket for you, okay?
Hey, guys. Let me show you the master bedroom.
Now we're talking.
Okay. There is cerveza, tequila and food in the kitchen.
I come back later. So enjoy the home.
Gracias.
Eso es.
Now, what in the world is that?
What's that?
Get. Get outta here.
Get outta here.
- Hey, it ain't funny. - I'm not laughing.
You laughing.
Man, this thing. Get outta here. Hell is that thing?
Hey, forget it. It'll fly out on its own.
- Shit. - Come on.
Man, what is that thing?
Get in here.
Flying rat.
We're almost to Cuba.
I ain't thinking about Cuba now.
Do you need help?
I don't need no help.
Bert?
- Hey. - What's going on?
Well, you're a hard man to get a hold of. You don't answer your phone anymore?
How you doing? What are you doing here?
Here, let me get you something to drink.
- Good Lord, Bert. - Here.
It's ten o'clock in the morning, Bert.
Sit down.
What's going on?
How you been?
Look, Bert, you did the right thing.
You protected your family.
Do you know what it feels like to come up short
in your defining moment?
I should've taken Huey to Mexico.
You want a defining moment?
How about you get up off the couch and go finish Hearts and Minds?
Okay. That's why you're here?
I'm here because I'm your brother, and I care about you. Okay?
And I know you care about that film.
And if you don't hand in a producer's cut by the end of the week,
they're gonna shelve it, Bert.
Well, like you said, "It's just a doc."
Well, like you said, Bert, "It's gonna be lines around the block."
You told me that this movie was gonna stop a war.
Now, is that not important anymore 'cause you feel bad?
There are kids dying every day, coming home in body bags.
And you told me you were gonna change all that.
You wanna do something revolutionary? Go finish your goddamn film.
So...
you really believe in my film?
I do.
You know what else I believe in?
Showers.
I'm big on showers.
You smell like vomit had diarrhea.
You stole that from a script, right?
Yeah, John Milius.
- You fucking plagiarist. - He's good.
Okay, all right. All right.
Give me half an hour. I'll get myself cleaned up.
All right. I'll meet you in the editing suite.
- Okay. - Okay.
Man, all this salsa. I need some goddamn ketchup.
Them fries don't need no ketchup. You'll be fine.
Shit!
Huey, you're only here for two weeks.
Maybe this was a mistake.
What was?
All of this. Running. Hiding. Abandoning the Party.
You're not running, you're regrouping. We just got here.
Talking semantics now. You call it regrouping. I call it running.
Either way, Gwen, I am abandoning the Party.
No, you're just transferring responsibility.
That's what you have Elaine and Teressa for, right?
Well, I can't be sure that Elaine is gonna do what I want her to do
from 3,000 miles away.
I don't even know how I ended up here.
I don't know. A lot of things happened.
What's that mean?
There's just a lot of reasons why we ended up here.
I know, but you could explain. You said, "A lot of things happened."
What do you mean by that?
Sweetie pie, I am not the first person to tell you this.
I mean, even your dad tried to tell you, but you--
No, don't bring him into this.
Now, you got something to say, you say it. Don't pawn it off on him.
Where is the person in all them pictures standing by your side? Where's he at?
Bobby left, man. He couldn't-- couldn't handle the pressure.
Oh, man, sit your ass down.
You know, you a shepherd with a thinning flock.
Bobby ain't leave. You ran him off.
And in his place, you're trying to make the disciples out of demons.
Run off your apostle John to congregate with a bunch of Judas.
You know, Pop, I remember you preaching about how Jesus asked his father
to forgive those who had lost their way.
You remember that?
"Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do," and all of that?
You taught me that.
So forgive me, Father.
But them so-called Judases that you're speaking about,
those are the brothers on the street who nobody gives a damn about.
Those brothers are the ones that nobody wants to forgive.
And those brothers will take a bullet for me.
And put two in your back.
Now, you need balance.
You, Bobby, the Party, that's when you were solid.
Now you're running with hoodlums. Hollywood white folks.
Look at you,
hands shaking like leaves on a tree in a winter storm.
Yeah. It ain't anger making your body move like that.
You don't know what I'm going through, Pop.
Boy, I didn't get to be this old and this Black
without knowing something about how to survive here in America.
Goddamn it, Pop!
You don't understand, man.
Your phone is tapped. My phone is tapped. Everybody's phone is tapped.
Man, they're probably listening to us right now.
No, Huey, no, you listen to me.
Now, you listen to me, please.
You can't be everything for everybody.
That's the Lord's job. He don't need no help.
You got to get yourself good,
or else you gonna be good for nothing.
God knows you better than that.
Are we giving too much screen time to the warmongers?
No.
You give the warmongers enough rope, they hang themselves.
Sally, has Steve or Artie called?
- No. - No?
Why are you looking at me like that?
Anderson, FBI.
Don't worry. Don't get up.
Who let this guy in? Can you call security?
I'm sorry, he wouldn't listen to me.
You assisted in the escape of America's most wanted fugitive.
Don't worry.
Gonna give you a chance right now, tell me exactly where he is.
As much as I would love to help the fascist state police
make a political prisoner of a brilliant man,
I honestly have no idea how to find him.
Okay, well, I saw Blauner cross the border with Newton.
And I know that you hid Abbie Hoffman down there too--
I have a lot of friends in Mexico,
but I don't keep track of their every move.
Now, look, we have a screening in two days, and you're costing me money.
Hey. You go anywhere near Mexico.
I mean make a phone call, send so much as a peso,
let's just say there's worse things I can do to your kids than put 'em in cuffs.
Come on, man. You got to have something stashed away for a rainy day.
What are you doing?
Why don't you come get some food?
What I need is for something to change.
I can't sit around here no more waiting for Bert
and his magic boat to show up.
I can't sleep here, Gwen. I feel stuck. I feel empty.
Goddamn tailor!
We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him.
...he'll slice you more than me.
- Stand still. - ...most of you got.
Man, what you putting in there?
I'm just trying to make it fit clean.
Bullshit. He's a Fed.
Yeah, he planting a bug!
You Fed motherfuckers are trying to put a bug in my damn pants?
Nigga, look me in my eyes when I'm talking to you.
Baby, I swear on my grandmama's--
Fuck your grandmama, what did you just say?
You done fucked up now.
They say I beat the tailor. But he denied it under oath.
They threw me in jail anyway.
Shit. Come on, man. This is bullshit.
Shut the fuck up! I said shut the fuck--
I made bail, but they weren't about to let me go.
What happened to him?
He fell.
Not here.
- Okay. Here. It's okay. - I can't--
- I can't take this shit no more. - I know.
Look, you're out now. And now is all we're worried about, okay?
Whoa.
I was hoping we might get to spend a little more time together.
You, get back.
- Let go. - We got pretty dinged up there.
Before I got out of the building, they found a murder to pin on me.
Huey P. Newton, you are under arrest for attempted murder.
- Attempted murder? What you talking about? - That tailor ain't dying.
We're talking about that 17-year-old streetwalker
you shot in the face a month ago.
Man, I ain't shoot nobody, man. What you talking about?
You pig motherfuckers are making stuff up now.
- You're setting him up! - You're trying to hold me here--
- Get off of me! Get off me! - You motherfuckers. Get your hands off me.
Sent me right back in.
- What I tell you, man? - I'll put the houses up. We'll make bail!
Off of me!
I got released on bail again.
And I was back on the throne,
but them walls was closing in.
They had me surrounded.
I know you motherfuckers are there.
I know you motherfuckers are watching me.
Come on in. I can smell you. Come and get me.
Always watching. Always listening. Always spying on somebody.
I know you're right there, motherfucker. Come on.
Fuckers, come on. Come on. Come and get me, motherf--
Huey?
The Feds are coming to arrest you.
We got ten minutes to get to the safe house.
Safe house ain't safe.
Get your stuff.
So I went to a house that the Feds wouldn't touch.
Huey?
The FBI is after me, say I killed some girl, some bullshit.
I gotta get off the street.
First, you blame Bobby. Then it's Bert. Then the Feds.
And now it's the tailor's fault.
Now, see, what's that supposed to mean?
Huey, look at you.
What? Look at me.
I've seen you down here.
You're jonesing. You're digging through drawers.
Sweetie pie, you're hurting.
I'm fine, Gwen.
Baby, I'm fine. I'm fine.
I'm fine.
Huey, I did not leave my kids in Oakland to be stuck in Cuba with a drug addict.
Drug addict?
Gwen. You don't know what you talking about.
You think this about drugs?
You don't know me half as good as I thought you did, Gwen.
Oh, no. We both know I do.
You just pissed 'cause I'm telling you the truth.
Look, you have--
You have spent so much time with your squad of yes-men,
you forgot what it feels like.
But you didn't ask them down here.
- You asked me. - Yeah, I did ask you down here, Gwen.
I asked you down here 'cause I wanted some support.
- Support? - Support.
- Support means honesty. - Come on.
Support means risking never seeing my family again.
You do realize that if they put a bullet in you,
they gonna put one in me too, right?
Hey, but I am willing-- I am willing to fight with you.
I am willing to have my kids grow up without a mother
if it means a better life for them.
Because I believe in you.
Huey, I love you. But you gotta take some responsibility.
Damn it, Gwen. If I knew you was gonna come down here and guilt-trip me,
I would've just left you where you was. All right?
I'ma go back in town.
Fine. Go ahead and get busted.
We could all go back to living our lives.
But who you gonna call this time when you get put in jail, huh?
Shit.
Fucking police been coming at me since day one.
Sure, you right.
They came at me different than they did you, man.
I didn't even see 'em.
Hey.
- Damn it, Steve. - I'm sorry.
- You ought to know better than that, man. - No, look, I come in peace.
I just had to tell you, Aldo found a guy that can help us.
We might not have to wait two weeks for Artie and the boat.
- Yeah? - Yes.
Let me go find out when we can meet him.
Why me, man?
Dude, I need you.
You're local. Best combat tracker ever.
I'm retired, Clark. Out o' commission.
You could be too.
- Come on. - Why not?
You just can't rest till you catch Huey P. Newton?
Come on, man. What the fuck?
He's a killer.
So are we.
The same government that put you chin deep in Asian mud for no reason
fucked him up too.
Bullshit. We're enforcing the law.
Come on.
He stands against everything we believe in.
Everything that you and I fought for.
What exactly you think we were fighting for, Clark?
- I'm-- - See, that's it right there.
That's your problem, man.
See, you still think that there's good guys and bad guys.
When you gonna learn?
There's just guys.
Bert, it's me.
The Big Cigar is lit. I'll see you in two weeks.
That's great. Listen, I'm not on set. You understand?
But the Jew has the package there waiting for you.
- Call me before you sail. - Yes, sir.
- Okay? - Bert.
I gotta go.
The Feds came back. And they took everything.
Rostow got them to take the reels.
What, they took the film? That's bullshit.
On the other hand, it's good publicity.
- Yeah, if we can get it back. - Of course we can.
I mean, Rostow said what he said. We didn't edit him.
It's just the FBI fucking with me to get Huey.
My brother's not gonna let them take the film.
...security overreach.
- Where is he? - I'm so sorry. He's gone.
What are you talking about? He's right there. Hey, wake him up! Hey!
Wake up, you lazy fuck.
I called his wife.
I came in and I found him like this. Already cold.
Hey, can you guys-- can you guys just give me a second to be--
You know, I keep thinking, Bert, he probably fucking panicked.
Don't say it, man. Don't do that.
- Don't start making excuses for him. - I'm not.
- You sure? - I'm really not.
'Cause it sounds like you about to make excuse for him.
I'm really not.
Guess I'm just making a case for a little bit of mercy.
Steve, he wasn't there when it mattered, man.
No, I know. I know, Huey, and that's fair.
But there is something about that asshole, right?
That led you to his house in the middle of the night when the shit hit the fan.
Huey, nobody's perfect.
I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Shit, this beer isn't perfect.
Oh, my God, although it's pretty goddamn close.
You can't keep expelling people every time they fuck up.
I mean, you can, sure.
But you will end up alone.
The thing is that Black folks, we do have to expel people that harm us.
It's not my job to...
to give so-called good white people a chance.
They've had chances.
Plenty chances.
Señores, this is my dear friend, Felix.
- Hey. - Hi.
Hey, man. Say, Aldo say you--
say you got a boat that can get us to Cuba?
I work for a man who makes a lot of trips around the Caribbean.
- He's a smuggler. - He does many things.
- All right, how fast can you get it here? - Oh, no.
It's in Cozumel. You have to go.
- The fuck? - What's the problem?
Cozumel's 800 miles away.
So it means we need a car or a bus.
That's two days travel, all while we risk getting spotted.
Or wait for Artie to take us to Cuba.
- And how long is that gonna take me? - A week. Maybe two.
Guys, we need to go. We need to go.
Right now. Come on.
We need to get the fuck outta here now.
Okay. Go.
Huey?
Steve?
Señora.
Hola.
- Okay. Gracias. - Gwen.
Hola. Que onda, little man?
Chiquita.
Got something for you. Come here.
All right.
I want you to wear this...
with pride.
Muy especial.
Gracias.
De nada.
Gracias.
- We almost got made, Gwen. - We gave them the slip though.
What's wrong?
The boy came with a telegram. News from Oakland.
Huey.
Huey, your father...
I'm so sorry.
Sorry.
He said to remind me, "Jesus was a revolutionary too."
Hi, Dad.
Sorry.
Don't apologize to me.
You're the one you're hurting.
Tell that to Stanley.
You didn't kill Stanley.
You did, however, kill your deal with the studio.
As soon as we deliver Hearts and Minds--
It won't matter. We're out. Begelman's in.
Doesn't wanna see any sign of the Schneiders at Columbia.
- What? - End of an era.
Well, what are you gonna do?
I don't know. It may just be our time.
Or at least, maybe it's mine.
Look at that.
John Howard Lawson came to pay his respects.
We did a lot of movies together, and yet he still looks at me like that.
Like what?
Like it's never gonna be right.
All those deals I gave him, trying to make up for what I did.
Standing up there on that stage. Letting the HUAC call him a commie.
Yeah, it's never gonna be quite right.
But the self-disgust?
That I can understand.
I really hope that's not true.
The way you've been looking at me all these years.
I pray that's not how you look at yourself.
Artie sits on the deck of the rescue boat.
A benevolent muse guides him as he writes
the gentle waves in perfect syncopation
with the clattering of the keys.
They called it "Jesus of the Sea."
A snorkeling attraction off of Key West.
Jesus Christ.
Okay.
Help.
Mayday! Mayday!
Yeah. Artie sank that beautiful boat.
Had to swim a mile to shore.
He was shipwrecked.
Me? I was sunk.
And I'll let you know a little secret.
I couldn't swim.
Why did you take him now?
Of all the times, why now?
Goddamn it, I needed him!
I needed to get back.
You put all these obstacles in my way, and I fought them.
I was coming back.
Bert. Bert, something happened.
What? What do you mean?
I'm not gonna make it. The Big Cigar is off. The boat is a bust.
- A bust? - I don't know. I don't know what to do.
- What the fuck are you talking about? - It sank! The motherfucker sank!
I ran over an underwater statue of Jesus.
- Jesus? - Jesus.
Jesus.
What the hell are you gonna do?
How the hell is Huey gonna get to Cuba if he doesn't have a boat? He's fucked.
Huey!
It was me.
- It was me. - Why don't you come back inside?
Come on.
All this time, I've been trying to be everything for everybody.
Hey. Hey. You can't do that to yourself.
Why not? My pops was right, you know, Gwen.
He tried to warn me.
Blaming everybody else. The squad. The drugs.
But now he's up there...
watching me.
He must be so ashamed.
Huey Percy Newton, your father loved you.
He thought you were a revolutionary. That's why he compared you to Jesus.
- No. - Yes.
Yes, look, he just thought you were losing your way.
All you gotta do is get back on your path
and finish what you started.
It's too late. I can't do that, Gwen.
I might've gone too far. Too much has happened.
And I'm so tired.
I'm so, so tired.
I'm so tired. It's over.
Hold on. Huey, come on. Come on.
We've gotta get back. Come on. Come on, baby.
Go.
Follow me. Come on. Over here.
Okay, hold this.
Sí. Get in.
Your bags are already down there, okay?
Huey, this is for you.
Come on. Ándale.
I ain't going back to jail.
Stop.
Where is he?
Who?
Don't be an idiot.
The revolutionary. He's here.
No, no, no, sir.
I take care of the house. No one comes.