The Black Panther (1977)

Load of rubbish!!

Lack of good storyline.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

We were all sick to our stomachs when this thing came out in 1977.The Leslie Whittle case had rolled across the news for months and months and most kids were afraid to go out at night.Kaye Alexander looked sick to her stomach every time she read the news.For some opportunistic cast, producer and director to capitalise on the crime and Whittle family misery to make a few quid was absolutely disgusting.It was centre stage in our local video shop for months and I don't think anyone hired it about from the local weirdos and paedos.Cheapskate media is always willing to have a laugh at our expense.Video nasty? Made all the porn films look tame. Hang your heads in shame.

This film is a pastiche and bears very little resemblance to the real man or the true facts of the case. It is riddled with errors from start to finish. Donald Neilson did not murder Lesley Whittle, he was not even present at the scene when she died. He fled on the night of the failed ransom drop leaving her alive and she died several days later after falling from the ledge. Anyone wanting to know the true facts of this case should read Harry Hawkes' book The Capture of the Black Panther and Adam Mars Jones book Lantern Lecture and put this film where it belongs - in the dustbin. Harry Hawkes followed the case from the beginning and was the only reporter to attend every one of Neilson's court appearances including the Court of Appeal in London. Adam Mars Jones is the son of the trial judge and acted as the Judge's Marshall at the trial. Mr Justice Mars Jones agreed with his son's conclusions on the case.

I wasn't expecting too much from this, to be honest. the reviews I'd read in the past hadn't done the movie many favours and the lurid cover art on the video tape really makes you fear for the worst- but, in all reality, its not that bad. I'm guessing that as it was made only a couple of years after the actual crimes depicted that it could have run into trouble, what with the brutal nature of Nielsons crimes and the fact that it had been such a very public series of events that horrified Britain over its weetabix and toast as it flicked past page three and looked for what was on the telly that night in the national tabloids. The movie, for those too young and in foreign parts to remember or to even know, tells the story of ex-army loner Donald Nielson who, to subsidise his income has taken to robbing local post-offices. In a series of military style raids, Nielsons crimes escalate to the point where he ruthlessly murders 3 postmasters whilst all the time planning the kidnapping of a 17 year old whose late father had left her a large inheritance. The film is creepy and effective, Donald Sumpters bizarre performance as the titular Panther makes you want to double-check the door before you go to bed and pull the curtains all the way across the windows.. Of course, despite Nielsons detailed planning, things go terribly wrong. The films careful direction and adhesion to the known facts of the real events add an air of credibility seldom seen outside of the small screen, and its use of locations close to the real ones make it all the more unsettling. Whether or not the drain where the on-screen Whittle meets her horrible demise is a set or a location in Bathpool park, it still makes you uneasy and once again begs the question- is this just trashy exploitation or something much harder to face, perhaps a desire to present the ever awful truth?

Donald Sumpter is flawless in his portrayal of Donald Neilson, a pretty weird guy. I saw this on tape when I was about five or six, and fifteen years later I still remember certain scenes very vividly. By all accounts one of the most factual true crime pictures ever made.