Video summary
The reviewer explores Netflix's "Untold" documentary series, specifically focusing on the episode about Mr. T titled "I Pity the Fool." While the format of these shorter, 45-minute documentaries is generally engaging and easy to digest, the reviewer notes that this particular installment feels like a promotional puff piece rather than an objective biography. This sentiment is echoed by Mr. T himself, who has publicly criticized the film as "trash" for failing to showcase the full scope of his life, including his extensive charity work and church involvement. The documentary primarily presents a glossy, rose-colored version of Mr. T's story, which the reviewer finds somewhat disingenuous because it glosses over significant drama, lawsuits involving his family, and his eccentric behavior regarding money and set requirements.
Despite its perceived bias, the film does offer several compelling elements that make it worth watching for fans. The documentary effectively highlights Mr. T's iconic status in the 1980s and early 1990s, drawing strong parallels between his real-life persona and his role as Clubber Lang in *Rocky III*. The inclusion of behind-the-scenes footage from the film is particularly praised, especially Sylvester Stallone's decision to cast Mr. T without a Jamaican accent to preserve his authentic identity. The narrative also touches on the cultural significance of having a black icon who felt seen and represented on screen, as well as Mr. T's stoic and raw approach to acting, which avoided softening his image for family entertainment. However, the reviewer argues that a truly fascinating documentary should present both the good and bad aspects of a person's life, noting that this film spends 95% of its runtime focusing only on the positive attributes while skirting around darker moments.
Ultimately, the reviewer concludes that while the documentary may not be a mind-blowing experience or a definitive "warts and all" account, it is still a solid watch for those interested in behind-the-scenes footage or casual viewing. The film successfully captures Mr. T's unique ability to become an instantly recognizable set piece rather than just another actor, though the reviewer personally would have preferred more depth regarding his later career struggles and questionable choices. The episode serves as a decent 45-minute diversion that allows viewers to multitask without missing much context, even if it does not fully satisfy hardcore fans looking for a comprehensive look at the man behind the catchphrase. The review ends by inviting audience discussion on whether the documentary did Mr. T justice or unfairly simplified his complex legacy.
Read the full video transcript
I've recently taken it upon myself to
watch more Netflix documentaries, uh,
true crime dramas, and that has led me
down a rabbit hole of the Untold series,
which are these shorter 45minute hourong
little slices about one individual
person. And the one that I was greeted
to last week was Ray Gun herself, the
break dancer that just couldn't. I found
the the flow, I found the format to be
enticing. It was easy to watch, easy to
digest, even when it was essentially
just a terrible puff piece for that
individual person. And so here we are
again already with another guy that I'm
a lot more familiar with. That's Mr. T.
He got himself an untold documentary
that he turns out actually really hates.
He called it trash. So let's talk about
this 45minute spectacle and see if he's
right. Do we pity the fool that signed
up to be in this thing or do we pity the
Netflix company that was behind this
nefarious documentary? Let's find out
right now.
Untold Mr. T:
I pity the fool. An appropriate title, I
suppose, especially if you agreed to use
your likeness. Well, just actually just
your person altogether in this thing and
then not choose to get final cut.
Normally, I don't dive into the drama. I
don't really care what actors and
actresses say off camera because then I
would just be probably turned off from
watching any movie that's ever been made
ever. But I did search out a thumbnail
to use for this video. And upon doing
so, the first thing that came up on the
Google image search results was a quote
from Mr. T. Certi at a spry young tender
74 years of age saying that this
documentary is trash. It does not
showcase all the great aspects of his
life from his charity work to his work
with the church and you know just
everything in between. Now it's kind of
funny that I saw this up until seeing
that quote. I actually thought this
documentary kind of was a little bit
but not in the way that he's
thinking. It felt like another ray gun
situation, another puff piece in the
favor of Mr. T, who's on camera in this
thing talking about himself, about his
trials and tribulations because it feels
like it paints a very glossy
picturesque uh version. It paints a nice
picture for Mr. T. And uh I pity the
fool that doesn't see between the lines.
From an assembly standpoint, I think
this does the job. I think the Ray Gun
one was put together better. A little
bit better picture quality, higher
higher production values across the
board, which you know, you got to you
got to dress that pig up, I suppose,
more than Mr. T because he has a far
more fascinating story than a chick that
grifted her way into the Olympics. This
guy has a life that I hope to never live
uh for I guess worse because the better
part of his life, holy he has
achieved a monumental amount of success.
He truly was an icon of the 80s bleeding
into the '9s. But this film is going to
take us back all the way to the 60s
where he was born to uh a family of what
11 siblings. He had seven brothers
including himself and four sisters. So a
total of what is that? Seven, eight,
nine. Yeah, that's 11. That's 11. Plus a
mama and a papa under one little tiny
roof in Chicago. And so he started out
as a bouncer for a couple nightclubs and
he would work his way up to the ranks of
a freaking villain in a Rocky movie. And
this is where the little documentary
thing really wowed me because I'm a
massive fan of the Rocky films and I
love Rocky 3. I think that one's
criminally underappreciated. It always
gets kind of overshadowed by four, which
I also absolutely love. Mr. TS Clubber
Lang was a freaking powerhouse. And it
turns out it's because he was basically
just emulating his real life
experiences. So, I had not seen some of
the behind-the-scen footage from Rocky
3, which they spend a good I feel like
10 minutes on, and they're going to
spend a good chunk of it on the A team
as well. The Rocky 3 stuff specifically,
I thought was fantastic. seeing
Sylvester Stallone's process on what he
wanted to do with Rocky 3, how he wanted
to go a different route with the
villain, stating, you know, the heroes
only as great as the villain he
overcomes. I think that's very that's
very wise. That's very sharp. And the
fact that he wanted Mr. T originally to
have a Jamaican accent only to say,
"Yeah, no, we're not doing that. You
just be you, dude. This is authentic.
This is what people want to see." And it
was absolutely seen in the final
product. And that's where I think that
this thing really hits a great mark. You
do learn about the guy, how he was rough
around the edges growing up, how he
protected his mother from some thugs,
how he was able to get into the
industry, not as a great actor, but as
just a interesting individual. His icons
were like Muhammad Ali, and he would
emulate that type of spirit as he went
in front of the cameras. very serious,
very stoic, very raw and real, not not
softening the edges, you know, for the
family entertainment. No, he told it
like he was. The documentary goes in to
explain the bling he wears, the choice
of earrings and hairstyle and what that
means to him and what that represents to
a culture of people. And he was truly
just an icon, specifically black
Americans, just black people in general.
to get some representation on the
camera, to feel seen for once in their
lives. And I think that message is very,
very powerful. Now, the reason I say
this feels a little disingenuous, a
little bit more of a puff piece, is
because the documentary barely scratches
the surface on some of the drama,
specifically on the A team with one of
the co-stars. They also barely go into
the multiple lawsuits with his family
members and how he was very eccentric
and very lavish with his money and often
had some very ridiculous requests for
what was required when he would go on
the set or just travel to different
locations. If you're looking for a warts
and all type of production, you're not
really getting it here. 95% of this
thing is just the rosecolored glasses.
You can call me naive. I I grew up, you
know, in the 80s. I knew of Mr. T from a
distance. I I knew of his like A Team
show, the cartoon. Uh, obviously, again,
Rocky 3 was badass. He did a lot of
commercials. He was in wrestling with
Hulk Hogan, Jake the Snake, and so while
I never deep dived into him as an
individual person, I was always
fascinated by just how over-the-top he
was. But that was kind of the 80s and
bleeding into the 90s there were so many
ridiculously larger than-l life
individuals like your Arnold
Schwarzeneggers, like your Sylvester
Stallones, like your Mr. T's or Hulk
Hogan's. As far as interviews and stuff
go with this thing, it's kind of your
standard stuff. You see Mr. T, he's
hanging out in like a warehouse. It's
not lit the best. I would have liked
some more backlighting on this
gentleman, but he's just kind of like
reflecting on his life a little bit.
He's got his Bible. He's got his cross
necklace. You know, he's he's a man of
the cloth. He and I think he's he has
been for a long time. So, it's not like
he just found this faith. He's always
been kind of there. We do see his
daughter in this. We see a manager
randomly. Terry Cruz is also just in
this. I don't know why he's in it. I
guess this is as close to a modern
version of Mr. T as they could find. a
black jacked dude who, you know, kind
of, I guess, puts himself out there, but
not really. Like, if anything, he's the
opposite of what Mr. T stood for. He
would be the uh the whitewashed version
of a black man, according to Mr. T, cuz
he was always worried that's what they
were going to do to him. They oppressed
his father and a lot of his friends and
relatives. So, he wanted to make sure
that he wasn't oppressed. he wasn't
going to take roles that put him in like
a Family Matters Urkl type of situation
where he was just a punching bag.
Ironically, eventually he would go down
this route. And I do think the whole
Simpsons angle of I didn't do it or uh
the dinosaur I'm the baby sort of thing
did happen to Mr. T where he became a
one-s sentence catchphrase. I pity the
fool. Everybody wanted to hear that over
and over again and it kind of became his
only identity. And so eventually when
things were getting a little tougher in
the money department, he would start
going down some more questionable
avenues for roles in films. And this
would lead to another section of the
documentary that's very quickly skirted
away from where he plays a woman in a
film and he walked out on set a week
before it was done filming. Apparently,
in real life, he's pissed that this was
even included in the documentary
altogether. But I found it to be one of
the more fascinating aspects. I really
don't have any interest in seeing a
documentary or anything where it's just
glossing over the bad sides of a person
and it's just focusing on how great they
were over the years. What makes an
individual special is a collection of
the good and the bad in their life. If
you're just going to remove all the bad
and say, "Look, it I'm I'm great. I've
always been great." Uh, that's not fun.
That's not interesting. It's not
fascinating. And I call So,
Mr. T might not appreciate this. I I
kind of agree with him, but not for the
same reasons as him. I wanted more warts
in there. I wanted more of the the dark
side of things because I feel like all I
got from this was he's a very unique
individual who wisely made a name for
himself. He found an avenue he could go
down where he was this tough, badass
individual who really became more than
an actor. He was he was a setpiece. He
was a person that people instantly
recognized. I think they said he's one
of the top 10 most recognized people in
the world. Like that's that's an
impressive achievement. Nothing to scoff
at for sure. So, if you're wondering
whether or not this is worth a watch, I
think it is. If you're obviously a big
fan of Mr. Tea and you like
behindthescenes footage, there's a good
amount of it. I mean, maybe not if
you're a hardcore tea fan, but uh I'm
I'm I'm light tea. I'm iced tea. Just a
little bit in there. Well, there you
have it. My thoughts on this flick,
Untold, I pity the fool, the Mr. Tea
story, or whatever the hell it's called.
I think it's a it's a fine watch. It's
not a mindblowing experience or
anything. It's just a solid 42 45 minute
thing you throw on. You can do the
dishes and stuff while it's going.
You're not going to miss much. Do you
think this did him justice? Do you agree
that it was a disservice to him and all
he's accomplished and just kind of
glossed over some of the great
accomplishments he had in life? Or are
you like me and you think it did the
opposite? It didn't show enough of the
roughness he had on him. Let me know.
Please think of subbing to the show.
Adam does movies on YouTube. I'm on
Spotify, Apple Podcast. Wherever you
watch or listen, you'll probably find
me. I post a lot of reviews and I'm
really getting into the Netflix side of
things because I know movies are
expensive as and sometimes I feel
like I'm almost alienating some of my
audience by only focusing on theater
releases. Unfortunately, it means I'm
watching a lot more garbage uh aka
Netflix and Amazon Prime exclusives, but
that's the that's the nature of the
beast. All right, there you have it. my
thoughts on Mr. T. Let me know yours and
hopefully I see you for the next video.
Take care.
Thanks again for watching the video. If
you didn't know, I'm a oneman operation
here at Adamosmov. I also have a
full-time job. I got a family to take
care of. And I would absolutely love if
you supported me on
patreon.com/adamosmov
like these beautiful people did here.
These are the silver and gold members.
There's also a bronze membership
starting at $1, plus access to over 300
videos from the Atom Vault at any
support level. I would really appreciate
it. It's the best way to support the
show. Hope to see you there.