The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977)

Director: Larry Cohen

Writer: Larry Cohen

Composer: Miklos Rozsa

Starring: Broderick Crawford, James Wainwright, Michael Parks, Jose Ferrer, Celeste Holm, Rip Torn, Dan Dailey, Ronee Blakley, Howard Da Silva, John Marley, Michael Sacks, Lloyd Nolan, Andrew Duggan, Jack Cassidy, George Plimpton, Tanya Roberts

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The files that escaped the shredder have become an incredible motion picture. From the Kennedys to Martin Luther King. From cab drivers to Congressmen. From housewives to hostesses. He had something on 58 million people. It was all in his files. Now you can see how he used it.

Plot:  The story of the late J. Edgar Hoover, who was head of the FBI from 1924-1972. The film follows Hoover from his racket-busting days through his reign under eight U.S. presidents.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Writer/producer/director covers over 50 years in the span of an hour and forty seven minutes.  That's a hell of a challenge but even more so when you're looking at someone as powerful as Hoover.  It can't be done.  OK, it probably can't be done well.  There are some nice bits in this picture but the acting is all over the place from bad (Da Silva as FDR) to fantastic (Parks as Bobby Kennedy) and the picture has problems.  One of the most glaring issues is Cohen presenting chunks of the film as almost like a greatest hits in Hoover's life.  Not all of these are moments that define who Hoover was or presented anything that you'd consider to be a part of a character arc.  I don't think that's necessarily a flaw but it would've been nice to have spent more time with Him and see him develop more.  It's like you're on a rushed vacation and you get five minutes to see the Grand Canyon and split.  Take a deep breath and soak in the fresh air, the majestic beauty, take a picture and load the kids back in the car for the Hoover Dam.  Wow.  That stream of conscious just turned into something remotely clever.  Neat.  Anyway, A lot of ground is covered and you get to see Hoover being the champion of the people and on the flipside, a racist asshole hellbent on destroying people.  It's worth watching for the gazillion character actors alone.  Crawford is good but he's not given much to do with his character.  There's no J. Edgar in a dress if that's what you were hoping to see.  Miklos Rozsa's score is good.