Film: J. Edgar
Cast includes: Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can), Naomi Watts (Fair Game), Judi Dench (Casino Royale), Armie Hammer (The Social Network)
Director: Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)
Genre: Biographical Drama (2011)
“I have worked too long and too hard to sit back and let the country descend into anarchy, communism and evil.” In J. Edgar Hoover’s view, those are all the same thing. In dictating his memoir, Hoover starts in 1919 with the coordinated bombing of eight sights around the country… including the home of Hoover’s boss Mitchel Palmer. Hoover arrived at Palmer’s home to find the police scooping up evidence and throwing it away. He tells us, “It wasn’t clumsy police work; it was just normal procedure.” Although it was impossible to analyze crime scene clues, Hoover knows Bolshevik communists are behind the plot. At home, Edgar’s mother has great faith, telling her son, “You will rise to be the most powerful man in history.”
Mr. Hoover… as he insists on being called… has over 3,000 names of Bolshevik communists in his files, and by the end of the month, he plans to have over 10,000. In the meantime, he’s taken an interest in the new typist at the bureau. And to impress her, he takes her to the Library of Congress to show her the amazing filing system he’s developed. Hoover envisions that some day every citizen will be catalogued in a similar way by specific individual characteristics… say, fingerprints. Anyway, Hoover’s romantic ideas are nipped in the bud, but Miss Gandy does agree to become Hoover’s secretary. The other key member of Hoover’s inside circle is Clyde Tolson, whose primary qualification for the job is his complete loyalty. By this time, “Speed” ... as he’s known by some... has been named Acting Director of the FBI, despite the fact that many find him excessively grandiose.
As time goes by, there are many challenges for the FBI and for Hoover. In some cases, such as the Lindbergh kidnapping, Hoover grows the power of the FBI by using revolutionary investigation techniques. In other cases, he uses the power of his secret files to coerce bosses into compliance with his agenda. Either way, Hoover was a powerful and influential figure… serving under Presidents Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnston and Nixon. Although history doesn’t look kindly on Hoover’s authoritarian rule, he is a fascinating historical figure. And this film attempts to look at the arch of his life through Hoover’s own eyes. We don’t come away from the film with a more sympathetic view of Hoover, but we get some insight into how little Johnny became J. Edgar Hover. Although we’ve come to expect a bit of inauthenticity when actors play aging historic figures, Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of Hoover is unusually convincing. Director Clint Eastwood’s managed to weave the elements of Hoover’s life into an intensely compelling narrative. “Don’t wilt like a flower… be strong,” Edgar’s mother tells him. And he never does wilt.
4 popped kernels
Captures the complexity and compulsions of one of the most powerful men of the 20th century
Popcorn Profile
Rated: R
Primary Audience: Grown-ups
Gender Appeal: Any audience
Distribution: Mainstream wide release
Mood: Neither upbeat nor somber
Tempo: Cruises comfortably
Visual Style: High-end production
Character Development: Intense
Language: True to life
Social Significance: Informative & Thought provoking
