J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 17 nominations
Videos3
- Director
- Writer
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
Biopic of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) told by Hoover as he recalls his career for a biography. Early in his career, Hoover fixated on Communists, anarchists, and any other revolutionary taking action against the U.S. government. He slowly builds the agency's reputation, becoming the sole arbiter of who gets hired and fired. One of his hires is Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), who is quickly promoted to Assistant Director and was Hoover's confidant and companion for the rest of Hoover's life. Hoover's memories have him playing a greater role in the many high profile cases in which the F.B.I. was involved, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the arrest of bank robbers like John Dillinger, and also show him to be quite adept at manipulating the various politicians with whom he worked over his career, thanks in large part to his secret files. —garykmcd
- Taglines
- The Most Powerful Man in the World
- Genres
- Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated R for brief strong language
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Armie Hammer, Leonardo DiCaprio and he proposed to producer and director Clint Eastwood to make the sexual relationship between the characters to be graphic, but he refused, arguing the screenplay didn't call for it.
- GoofsNeither Hoover nor Agent Melvin Purvis killed John Dillinger. Dillinger was actually gunned down by agents Clarence Hurt, Charles Winstead, and Herman Hollis. Most historical accounts give Winstead credit for delivering the fatal shot to the back of Dillinger's head. Ironically, given the film's depiction of Hoover as constantly claiming credit for the deed, Winstead received a personal letter of commendation from Hoover for it.
- Quotes
J. Edgar Hoover: Do I kill everything that I love?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #2.16 (2011)
Top review
Edgar and Clyde
Snipets of history and then a tabloid romance that, in its day, was made of rumor and innuendo. A psychotic, paranoid schizophrenic, as I see it, head of the most powerful Federal Bureau Of Investigation, corrupted by his own power and his obsession with secrecy is a character worthy of Peter Lorre but in this new outing of the prolific Clint Eastwood, J Edgar Hoover is Leonardo DiCaprio! I love both DiCaprio and Eastwood but not in this. I love DiCaprio for Gilbert Grape and Eastwood for The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven. Here they are both out of their depths. Long, boring film with terrible aging make-up and no real center. The most unexpected aspect was the time dedicated to the romance between J Edgar and Clyde Tolson. It humanized the man without revealing him. That's almost cheating.
helpful•7241
- littlemartinarocena
- Nov 22, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Hoover
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $37,306,030
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,217,324
- Nov 13, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $84,920,539
- Runtime2 hours 17 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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