J. Edgar (2011)
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An aging FBI director narrates the Bureau's early history to a series of agents while grappling with his own legacy and secrets.
The story
J. Edgar is a biographical drama focusing on the life of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, beginning with the 1919 Palmer Raids. The film utilizes a nonlinear narrative where an aging Hoover narrates the Bureau's early years to agents tasked with ghostwriting his memoirs. In 1919, Hoover is assigned to a division dedicated to purging radicals, where he creates legal precedents for deportations and begins collecting incriminating information on people in power. Following the Palmer Raids, Hoover is appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation, where he begins establishing the FBI's foundation and expanding its authority through various high-profile cases.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film employs a nonlinear structure, alternating between Hoover's role in establishing the FBI and his later years protecting it. As a frame story, the aging Hoover narrates the Bureau's early history to agents ghostwriting his book. In 1919, Hoover is assigned to purge radicals, where he meets Helen Gandy, who becomes his secretary and confidant. He creates legal precedents to deport radicals and, after the Palmer Raids, is appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation. He begins a confidential file on people in power. During the 1930s, Hoover focuses on gangsters, establishes the FBI Laboratory, and helps convict Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the Lindbergh kidnapping. The film explores his personal life, including his complicated relationship with his mother and his secret feelings for Clyde Tolson, his associate director. Hoover becomes increasingly vengeful, using covert listening devices to blackmail political figures like FDR and Robert F. Kennedy. He starts COINTELPRO to fight radicals, eventually attempting to blackmail Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964. As his strength declines, Hoover fears Richard Nixon will seize his files. He admits his feelings for Tolson before dying at home, and Gandy destroys the files before Nixon's men can seize them.
- First release year
- 2011
- Runtime (minutes)
- 137
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Clint Eastwood
- Writers
- Dustin Lance Black · writer; Dustin Lance Black · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Leonardo DiCaprio · J. Edgar Hoover; Armie Hammer · Clyde Tolson; Naomi Watts · Helen Gandy; Judi Dench · Hoover's mother; Josh Lucas; Adam Driver · Walter Lyle
- Genres
- biographical drama
- Themes
- Sexual repression; Power and corruption; Historical legacy; Surveillance
- Tone and mood
- Serious; Biographical; Caustic
- Premise and plot tags
- Biographical; Historical Drama; True Story; Crime; LGBTQ-related
- Source material / true-story basis
- The career of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
- Content notes
- LGBTQ-related
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, though Leonardo DiCaprio's performance was widely praised. It was recognized as one of the top ten films of 2011 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 44% · review count: 242; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Globe Award · nomination · nomination; Screen Actors Guild Award · nomination · nomination; Screen Actors Guild Award · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role · nomination
- Production trivia
- Leonardo DiCaprio dropped his usual fee from $20 million to $2 million to star in the film.; DiCaprio had to spend up to six hours having makeup applied for scenes as the aged Hoover.; The Cicada Restaurant stood in for New York's Stork Club.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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