Mr. Untouchable (2007)

Director:

Marc Levin

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Godfather or Snitch

Plot:

The true-life story of a Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord...

Plot Keywords:

Jail | Da | Kingpin | Murder | Mob

Cast

Leroy 'Nicky' Barnes	...	Himself
Thelma Grant	...	Herself
Carol Hawkins-Williams	...	Herself
Joseph Jazz Hayden	...	Himself
Leon Scrap Batts	...	Himself

Directed by
Marc Levin

Produced by
Will Albright	....	associate producer
Alex Gibney	....	producer
Jason Kliot	....	producer
Daphne Pinkerson	....	supervising producer
Mary-Jane Robinson	....	producer
Joana Vicente	....	producer
Todd Wagner	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Hi-Tek

Cinematography by
Henry Adebonojo

Film Editing by
Bob Eisenhardt
Emir Lewis
Daniel Praid

Sound Department
Evan Benjamin	....	supervising sound editor
Travis Call	....	audio post supervisor
Tony Volante	....	re-recording mixer

Editorial Department
Alexandra Lawrence	....	editing assistant

Other crew
Steve Holmgren	....	office manager
Lauren Lillie	....	assistant: Mr. Kliot & Ms. Vicente
John C. Paulsen	....	production assistant
Kara Rozansky	....	production coordinator
Andrew Schwarz	....	production intern
Robert Stein	....	legal counsel

Production Companies

• Blowback Productions
• Dash Films
• HDNet Films

Distributors

• Magnolia Films (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• VVS Films (2007) (Canada) (all media)

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Blowback Productions

Movie Connections:

Spin off "Mr. Untouchable" (2009)

Movie Review: Mr. Untouchable

There's a moment in Marc Levin's ferocious new documentary, Mr Untouchable, when your heart just breaks. Moments after winning game seven of the World Series, a news reporter asked a young African American boy if his hero was the series' MVP, Reggie Jackson. The child responded, no it was Nicky Barnes.

Nicky Barnes, who the New York Times nicknamed "Mr Untouchable" in 1977, was New York's most successful heroine kingpin. Levin's documentary chronicles the lavish life of the millionaire, covering his battle against addiction, his rise to power and his ultimate downfall.

Filled with love, lust, power and revenge, Barnes story is an epic tale and Levin cuts right to the heart of this monstrous drug lord's true life narrative with a sense of style and pizazz fitting of the supercilious gangster. With a fantastic soundtrack and powerful imagery, Levin makes what could have been a bad episode of cops a fully cinematic experience.

Of course it helps to get a hold of the man himself, Nicky Barnes, now under a different alias living under the witness protection program. While all of Barnes cohorts tell fascinating tales about the kingpin, there is something extraordinary about seeing the first photographed imagery of Barnes since his release from prison.

Even today, a reformed man, his gigantic ego still overshadows his personality. It is easy to see how Barnes became such a success, his personality is overwhelmingly charming, despite his cut throat reputation and holier than thou attitude.

The documentary is incredibly well structured. Early in the film Levin lets you become attached to Nicky Barnes the person. As he makes his turn from junkie to kingpin, you can't help but feel caught up in his success, no matter how dastardly his deeds were. Not only was Barnes the coolest cat in Harlem, he also did good will for the community he was destroying. While he was filling the streets with junkies, he was also handing out turkeys to the poor during Thanksgiving. Hypocritical? Maybe, but it is cinematically effective.

Once you're attached to Nicky Barnes, Levin quickly destroys him, showing the dark side of the drug lord and taking away his glitz and glamor piece by piece, until there is literally nothing left of the man that used to be untouchable. Mr. Untouchable is thorough and informative, yet Levin manages to transcend the confines of the genre crafting a documentary that is extremely potent and undeniably entertaining too.

-Joe Russo