
The true-life story of a Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord, MR. UNTOUCHABLE takes its audience deep inside the heroin industry of the 1970s. The most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history, Barnes came from humble beginnings to make himself and his comrades rich beyond their wildest dreams, ultimately reaching national infamy in 1977 when the New York Times put him on the front cover of their magazine with the headline "... (Full plot summary below)
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The true-life story of a Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord, MR. UNTOUCHABLE takes its audience deep inside the heroin industry of the 1970s. The most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history, Barnes came from humble beginnings to make himself and his comrades rich beyond their wildest dreams, ultimately reaching national infamy in 1977 when the New York Times put him on the front cover of their magazine with the headline "Mr. Untouchable". Soon after, it all came crumbling down, and facing a life sentence without parole, Barnes started naming names. With the first hand testimony from "the black Godfather" himself, this documentary tells an epic story of business, excess, greed and revenge.
Leave your thoughts about Mr. Untouchable.
| Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaThe "black Godfather" comes off as a cold-blooded narcissist whose vision of the American Dream is as twisted as it seems to have been rewarding. |
| New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanIt's not a pretty picture, but it sure is a compelling one. |
| New York PostV.A. MusettoWhat emerges is a portrait of a complex man - one who had no qualms about murder and drugs but who won a national poetry contest and read "Moby-Dick" while in jail. Go figure. |
| The A.V. ClubNathan RabinIf Barnes ultimately emerges as a heartless, duplicitous villain, he's nevertheless got the devil's slippery, seductive charm. |
| Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAs interesting, certainly, as “American Gangster,” and operating with a truer street sense of the characters involved. |
| The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttIt's undeniably fascinating, but you might want to take a shower after hanging out with this unsavory bunch. |
| Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranA slick package all around. Adroitly edited, filled with fine music like Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" and more people flashing needles than at a garment worker's convention, this film is less a dispassionate examination than a celebratory infomercial on its central character. |
| Washington PostStephen HunterIt's fast and furious, and it proves that crime doesn't pay, unless you know how to do it right. |
| Village VoiceMichelle OrangeA fascinating first-person account of drug kingpin and ruthless gangster Nicky Barnes, whose outrageous story of rise, rule, rage, and revenge requires no such stylistic filler. |
| The New York TimesA.O. ScottThere is some acknowledgment of the terrible effects of the drug trade on residents of Harlem and other poor New York neighborhoods, but for the most part Mr. Untouchable clings to the standard hip-hop mythology of the pusher as entrepreneur, rebel, celebrity and folk hero. |