Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Big Cigar’ On Apple TV+, about Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba with the help of a film producer

One of the nagging problems with the Oscar-winning film Argo was that it made the American hostages in Iran in 1980 into mere props for a somewhat comedic caper story. Joshuah Bearman wrote the magazine story that the film was based on; another article of his with a similar story has now been turned into an Apple TV+ series.

THE BIG CIGAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “They say it’s a nation of laws. But, uh, what governs everything in the universe is the law of contradictions.” We see a closeup of the face of Huey P. Newton (André Holland) as he looks around in wonder. The ocean can be seen behind him.

The Gist: Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panthers, is the narrator of the story, “at least how I remember it. But it is coming through the lens of Hollywood, but let’s see how much of my story they’re really willing to show.”

In 1974, Newton and his girlfriend, Gwen Fontaine (Tiffany Boone), show up at the door of film producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola), looking for somewhere to hide. He’s been accused of shooting a woman in his hometown of Oakland, and he figured Bert’s house would be a good refuge. But Bert tells them that the FBI is watching his movements since he and Newton got back from China, so he takes them to the house of his producing partner and childhood friend Steve Blauner (P.J. Byrne).

We then jump back in time, first to 1949, where a young Newton sees that the cops in Oakland are just as racist as the ones his family left in the Jim Crow south, then to 1966, when he and Bobby Seale (Jordane Christie) first started the Black Panthers. There, he and Bobby see a kid they know from their community center, Lil Bobby Hutton (Thamela Mpumlwana), being detained by police. Citing California state code, the two of them take out shotguns but don’t brandish them, in order to get Bobby out of the cops’ clutches.

After another confrontation with racist cops, Newton is accused of killing one of them, spending three years in solitary confinement for a crime he didn’t commit. He stayed strong, thinking about how cops treated Lil Bobby and others; his conviction was overturned after a “Free Huey” movement.

By the time he was released in 1970, he got the attention of Schneider, who just produced Easy Rider with Blauner. Through rising Black Panther member Teressa Dixon (Moses Ingram), he offers money towards the cause, but Newton does not want to be influenced in any way by white benefactors, especially ones from Hollywood.

But Teressa convinces Newton to meet Schneider at a party he’s throwing in Los Angeles. There, Newton meets Richard Pryor (Inny Clemons), among other celebrities. But as much as Schneider tries to convince him that his money comes without strings, Newton isn’t convinced.

Schneider makes his way up to Oakland to convince him, and when he gets arrested with Newton and other Panthers after some cops accuse them of loitering, a bond is forged.

Back to 1974. Schneider and Blauner consult with attorney William Kuntsler (Rod Wilson), but the activist attorney has bad news; Newton should turn himself in if he doesn’t want the feds to kill him and anyone who helps him. Newton won’t accept that, so he, Schneider and Blauner hatch a plan to get him to a place that does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.: Cuba. And they can use the cover of shooting a movie there to accomplish this.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The plot of The Big Cigar feels a bit like the plot of Argo; that is likely not a coincidence, since Joshuah Bearman wrote the magazine articles that both are based on. Jim Hecht adapted Bearman’s 2012 story about Newton’s escape to Cuba; Bearman is an executive producer, as is Don Cheadle, who directed the first episode.

Our Take: Like Argo, it feels like The Big Cigar takes a fairly serious story, which is Newton being accused of murdering Kathleen Smith, and making it into a somewhat lighthearted, somewhat comedic thriller. Hecht, who was a creator of Winning Time, the HBO series about the 1980s Lakers, uses some of the same techniques that were used in that series, namely some fantasy sequences, fake news footage, and a fair amount of flashbacks and flash forwards.

It makes for a stylish and fast-moving show, and Holland does a good job of conveying just how determined Newton was to defend Black people against institutional racism. But, despite the fine performances of Holland, Nivola and Boone, we felt like the style of the show distracted from its message.

As much as the story about the Lakers had serious issues bubbling underneath, it was still a story about a basketball team. The story of the Black Panthers and Newton’s escape from authorities after Smith’s murder is about violence, racism, and — at times — vigilantism. It’s not some lark of an adventure. The real story has Newton spending three years in Cuba, but finally coming back to the U.S. to stand trial for Smith’s murder, though because of the intimidation and attempted murders of several prosecution witnesses (which Newton denied he was involved with), two trials ended up in hung juries and the case was dropped.

With that in mind, we hope that Hecht, Cheadle and company keep the seriousness of Newton’s situation in mind as the escape is planned and executed. Because, as well-executed as the show is, we’re going to continue to be distracted by the show’s somewhat light treatment of what sparked this caper if it’s not addressed.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Newton, Schneider, Fontaine and Blauner toast to the beginnings of the plan.

Sleeper Star: We see a glimpse of Noah Emmerich as Bert Schneider’s more straightlaced brother Stanley; you don’t put Emmerich in a role if it’s not going to be significant later on. Also Marc Menchaca plays ponytailed FBI agent Sydney Clark, who will be the main fed chasing Newton.

Most Pilot-y Line: It was one thing to have someone playing Richard Pryor — did he really help Newton by getting him fake passports? — but what was the reason to have an actor (Owen Roth) doing a mediocre impression of a young Jack Nicholson?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite our reservations about the storytelling in The Big Cigar, we were impressed by Holland’s turn as Huey P. Newton. That alone is enough to watch this fast-moving series.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.