Mr. Untouchable

The American public has always had a fascination with criminals. The so called gangsters have captured the imagination of the people and this trend shows absolutely no signs of diminishing. Back in the twenties and thirties gangsters ran wild around the country. They stole, trafficked in bootlegged alcohol and murdered in incredible numbers. The newspapers sold more copies if a gruesome picture of their carnage or deaths was on the front page. The movies followed suite with more mobster flicks that you could count. Stars were made with this genre of film who went on to become the most popular actors of their time. If all the glamorization many people forget the toil these men took, how many lives they ruined. In the last couple of years there has been an increasing amount of attention on the African-American gangsters. With the BET series, ‘American Gangster’ several of the more infamous have been highlighted. The attention of the public was really gained with the release of a major motion picture by the same name, ‘American Gangster’. The focus there was one of the more flamboyant criminals of his day, Frank Lucas. The new documentary ‘Mr. Untouchable’ by director Marc Levin is concerned with one of Lucas’ contemporaries and main rivals, Nicky Barnes.

In a strange, twisted way the life of Leroy "Nicky" Barnes was an American success story. Here was a man who was born into poverty, was a drug addict and yet clawed his way up the criminal ladder to become one of the most daring and successful drug lords in the world. Americans love a ’rags to riches’ story even if the road is littered with dead bodies. His perchance for avoiding convictions garnered him his nickname of ‘Mr. Untouchable’ making him even more of a cult figure. Watching this documentary of his rise and fall you cannot help but to have mixed feelings. On one hand this is a man who was one of the most heinous criminals of his day. Not only did he have any obstruction killed his drugs ruined and ended countless lives. Then there is a feeling of being drawn into the success story. He overcame numerous odds to rise above his origins to gain wealth and success. Once again, he climbed over many people to accomplish this. What matters from the point of view of this discussion is the presentation of the film. In that Levin does a solid job of presenting the man and the myths surrounding him. This is a documentary with an agenda. It does not a biography but focuses on the way power made this man and also leads to his downfall. This approach also removes much of the fodder for any sort of admiration for this man. Instead of concentrating on his rise from poverty the audience is given more about Barnes as the so called ‘Black Godfather’.

The largest strength of this documentary is the fact that is features interviews with the people who where there. This includes the first interviews with Barnes since he went into the witness protection program in the late nineteen nineties. Now at over seventy years of age this is most likely the last time a filmmaker can include this part of the living history. The film begins with a montage shot of Harlem back in the early seventies. They show a picture of Barnes at the height of his career, rich well dressed and surrounded by beautiful women. The heroine trade had made him the Al Capone of Harlem and he reveled in it. Levin sets the tone of the film immediately. Right after the shot of the affluent Barnes we see the basis of that wealth. The drugs are cut by a squad of topless women then sold to distributors and then to the street dealer. The segment then shows the junkie preparing the drug for use. Even though his money and power would have landed him on the Fortune 500 if he was legitimate he was truly living the American dream. There were many who hated According to several people interviewed Barnes felt he was a coward and wanted him dead. Barnes was the type who would betray the men most loyal to him. He ran the heroine business in New York City in the seventies, in 1986 he disappeared but there is still a million dollar contract on his head.

Barnes was not an ignorant man. In an interview with him he states that he has read a considerable amount and that his favorite author is Nicole Machiavelli. There is no right or wrong, only the person with the biggest guns that matters. During these interview segments Barnes is almost completely in shadows. Only his hands are in the light, constantly moving. He describes how the tenants of his profession demanded ruthlessness; any weakness would be deadly. Inter cut with his philosophy are shots of the actuality of its implementation. The audience is shown scene after scene of dead bodies and blood on the sidewalk. The other people interviewed demonstrate an amazing cross section of the people involved in the story. There is Louie Jones who was a heroine addict in the seventies. He helped humanize the true victims of Barnes, the user. There is no glorification of drug use. Addicts are shown shooting up into scared arms then sleeping in the filthy gutter. Weighing in on the legal aspects of Barnes’ career is Defense Attorney David Breitbart who represented Barnes and helped him gain his famous nickname. He talks about how incredulous Barnes was when captured as if it just couldn’t happen. Speaking about the hierarchy of Barnes’ business are N.Y. Times crime reporter Fred Ferretti and one of the NYPD detectives after Barnes, Larry Gerhold. They detail how Barnes had a council of seven lieutenants who helped form and enforce policy. There were equivalent of CEO, COO, and every upper management position you would find in a successful company. There are also interviews with Frank James and ‘Jazz’ Hayden, former council members who provide an insiders vantage point. A look at Barnes as a man is given by his former wife Thelma Grant. She tells the audience that Barnes as a man with a thirst for knowledge but also one who constantly needed to be seen as more. Barnes started poor, gained infamy and power and ended up betraying those closest to him by becoming an informant.

The agenda of this film is simple, show the man and debunk the myths. While other movies and documentaries tend to glorify criminals like this Levin accomplishes the task of portraying the man as he was. We get to see every conceivable viewpoint of this man by those who knew him. His wife made him a tough but romantic figure while a former council member was the one calling him a coward. The underlying impact of this film is this is one of the greatest perversions of the American dream. With his innate intelligence and keen business mind Barnes could have been a huge success in any endeavor. The fact that he chooses a career that deleteriously affected so many demonstrates an incredible misdirection of potential. Adding to the power of the interviews is the choice of music to accompany the visuals. Everything from ‘the Pusher’ to seventies funk is here. The documentary is visually, musically and contextually fascinating and is extremely rare.

Magnolia Home Entertainment brings this film out to DVD adding it to their eclectic catalog. The 1.85:1 video is crisp and clear. The Dolby 5.1 audio is overdoing it but nicely done. A simple stereo transfer would have worked well. This is one of the better treatments of the topic and a must have for those interesting in seeing the fictional films.

Posted 01/02/08