The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover

The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover is a 1977 American biographical drama film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen. It stars Broderick Crawford as Hoover, alongside an ensemble cast including Jose Ferrer, Michael Parks, Rip Torn, James Wainwright, Celeste Holm, Ronee Blakely, John Marley, Michael Sacks, Brad Dexter, Tanya Roberts in a cameo role, and in final screen appearances, Jack Cassidy and Dan Dailey.[1] Both Cassidy and Dailey met with then First Lady Betty Ford and helped director Cohen get permission to do the film's on location cinematography in Washington, D.C., in locales where the real Hoover visited or worked.

The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover
Directed byLarry Cohen
Produced byLarry Cohen
Written byLarry Cohen
StarringBroderick Crawford
James Wainwright
Jose Ferrer
Celeste Holm
Ronee Blakely
John Marley
Michael Sachs
Music byMiklós Rózsa
CinematographyPaul Glickman
Edited byMichael Corey
Production
company
Larco Productions
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release date
  • December 1977 (1977-12)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film was shown at the Kennedy Center in Washington to a mixed response from Republicans and Democrats who did not like the dark visions Cohen evoked on American politics and the portrayals of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard M. Nixon: actor Howard Da Silva played Roosevelt, and impersonator James LaRoe (credited as Richard M. Dixon) plays Nixon. After it was shown in Washington, the film took a limited nationwide release to theaters, and got a full release to video and television into the 1980s and 1990s.

Plot

The film is a fictionalized chronicle of forty years in the life of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, from his earliest days in the FBI in the 1920s until his death in 1972. The film is also framed by an opening and closing vignette showing the aftermath of Hoover's death and the mad dash to obtain possession of the "private files" in the title. Files that Hoover used to blackmail and extort people in positions of power and authority, to retain leadership of the FBI. The film ultimately show the Nixon administration attempting and failing, to obtain the files and imply that Hoover's blackmail material relating to Nixon were ultimately used by his political enemies to bring down his Presidency.

Portrayal of Hoover

Unlike prior media portrayals, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover delves deep into the FBI director's dark sides and many of the controversial and unethical acts committed by Hoover. However, it does attempt to provide some passing justification for Hoover's amoral actions: in particular, it explicitly states that Hoover's usage of illegal spying on political enemies was ordered by Franklin D Roosevelt prior to World War II to root out possible Nazi subversives. It also stated that Hoover held an explicitly neutral view on using his spying apparatus to protect America and that he had a falling out with Richard Nixon, when Nixon attempted to create a parallel network of illegal surveillance that answered directly to the White House. Less sympathetic is the film's portrayal of Hoover's adversarial relationship with Martin Luther King Jr., his habit of forcing subordinates to ghostwrite his various books on law enforcement subjects, and his tyrannical treatment of subordinate agents in the Bureau during his forty years in charge of the FB.

The film also addressed longstanding rumors regarding Hoover's 'abnormal' sexual life. The film acknowledges Screw Magazine public accusation of Hoover being gay and in a relationship with deputy director/longtime colleague Clyde Tolson. However, it presents the accusation as a malicious slur conceived by critic Al Goldstein in retaliation towards Hoover over his persecution of Martin Luther King Jr., after King was assassinated. Both Hoover and Tolson are shocked at the accusation but are shown to refuse to acknowledge it publicly or change their habits of hanging out together socially.

But while the film takes a definitive stance against the rumor of Hoover's alleged homosexuality, it does explore other elements long rumored about Hoover. In particular, it explicitly states that Hoover's overbearing and dominant mother rendered him unable to fully relate to women to the degree that he would be willing to date or even marry. It further fictionalizes an encounter between Hoover and longtime female friend/admirer Lela Rogers, which indicates that Hoover has a "voyeurism" fetish. In the encounter, Hoover rejects Lela's romantic advances and in return, Lela accuses Hoover of "getting off" on listening to surveillance tapes of others and renting said tapes out to others. Hoover then leaves for his office and in a fit of anger, masturbates to an audio tape of one of his targets making love to a woman.

Finally, the film offers a hypothesis that Watergate and the fall of Richard Nixon was the direct result of the mysterious individual known as Deep Throat (whose identity was still a mystery at the time) having rescued Hoover's files on Nixon and his illegal activities, which were then leaked to Woodward and Bernstein in their investigation of the President.

Cast

References
  1. Paul Brenner. "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977) - Larry Cohen | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
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