The FBI Story
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Movie Reviews of The FBI Story
Movie Review: The true story of how the Federal Bureau of Investigation was created.
Summary: 5 Stars
James Stewart stars and narrates as Federal agent John Michael "Chip" Hardesty. I love Stewart's narration, especially his trademark wry humor, like "This isn't very romantic kissing in the murder section". Follow him as he apprehends the gangsters of the 20's and 30's, such as Alvin Karpis, Ma Barker, and Machine Gun Kelly all the way up until the Communists of the 50's. Some see this film as purely propoganda, and others as too much about Hardesty's private life. Personally, I see it as the birth of the bureau, with Stewart in the pivotal role, and his personal life as a subplot which helps him escape from the confines of the agency itself. I will admit that the subplot of his personal life is somewhat tedious - his son is killed at Iwo Jima, his daughter forgets her speech at a school event, etc. But who cares? The movie is more about the birth of the agency. However, the movie does have somewhat of a throwback to the gangster films of the 30's and 40's in its art direction, production design, costumes, hair styles, and especially the gunfights. Vera Miles heads up the supporting cast as Chip's wife Lucy, along with Murray Hamilton as Chip's polar opposite, and Nick Adams as the center of the very first investigation in the film - a psychotic who kills so he can collect the life insurance on what he has done. Also watch for Parley Baer as Harry Dakins, a very lazy and despicable excuse for what an agent should be. Adams delivers probably one of the best lines in the film - "In case I get any mail, you can send it to Canyon City Prison for the next month or so. After that you can send it to hell!" The film is directed by Mervyn LeRoy who had also directed both Hamilton and Adams alongside Andy Griffith in the hilarious military comedy "NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS". LeRoy's direction in this one is crisp and never pulls any punches. The movie is adapted from the best seller by Don Whitehead, and the script is crackling with tension and excitement. Stewart has one of his best roles, as do Hamilton, Adams, Miles and Baer. It is also one of LeRoy's best directing efforts.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Theatrical Trailer
Also Recommended: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), ROPE (1948), THE SEARCHERS (1956), NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (1958), THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)
THIS REVIEW IS DEDICATED TO ANYONE, LIVING OR DEAD, INVOLVED IN THE MAKING OF "THE FBI STORY".
Movie Review: Best Unintended Comedy/Propoganda Puff Ever
Summary: 5 Stars
"The FBI Story" is hands down the funniest straight-laced drama ever made, and one of the greatest '50s pro-government propoganda tools to boot. Made by a scared Hollywood, the film is a white wash of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover's history. Case in point: Hoover is shown from behind as a strikingly tall invidual with broad shoulders. In fact, he was not. The FBI is shown as a great supporter of Civil Rights and fighting the KKK. In fact, they did every thing in their power to destory MLK Jr. and anyone who dared take on the white power establishment. Let's not get into wire-tapping, secret files and blackmail schemes. People die of gunshots and slump down dead; no blood, no pain, just all quick and fun. It's all so phony, it's a laugh riot. Take the death of a major character within Stewart's family -- it's false, and must have come from the pen of someone who's never even met a man who has lost a child. A few folks here call it "true American history" and decry "liberal modernism." How sad that they lie to themselves. Do they also think blacks voluntarily came over to America to happily work our fields? Or that four girls blew themsleves up in a church in Alabama? I can't imagine a minority who lived during the '50s or before can look at this and call it true. Certainly, the FBI and America as a whole has done great things that are immeasurable, but let's not kid ourselves -- we've done plenty wrong. And we need to admit it, not just pretend it didn't happen. As history, "The FBI Story" certainly gets a 0. As what it was intended (propoganda to get boys to die for Uncle Sam) and what is (disturbingly funny), it's brilliant. Sadly brilliant.Movie Review: "Wanted--by the FBI"
Summary: 5 Stars
Jimmy Stewart explains to a "fly on the wall" and superbly dramatizes the glory days of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He tells the intriguing tales of how the FBI was able to crack some of the most mysterious, diabolically clever, grisliest crimes it ever sought to crack and how it infiltrated some of the most heineous underground organizations ever launched in our country. The frames of the reels are filled with not one story, but several different cases and stories, and these are woven into the fabric of his pressure-cooker personal and family life. It is very entertaining and thought-provoking to the viewer, especially when keeping in mind the later opinions generated by J. Edgar Hoover and his stange ways. A very good movie. Watch Jimmy as he comes face to face with the living personas depicted on wanted posters.Movie Review: Splendid stuff
Summary: 5 Stars
This crisp remastered DVD version brings the FBI of the 1950s back to life. The film begins with a modern forensic investigation into a murder involving an aeroplane, and then a flashback to the beginnings of the agency. The story is told from the perspective of one agent, Chip Hardesty, from the agency's early struggles finding facilities and pitting unarmed agents against gangsters with machine guns, to World War II where it tackled enemy agents in South America, to a modern force with all the resources of technology and fire power at its disposal. An exciting and entertaining film, even though it was made nearly half a century ago.Movie Review: Edward Sullivan
Summary: 5 Stars
The FBI Story is a very entertaining film about the experience of one FBI agent (played by Jimmy Stewart) and his family from the birth of the agency, through the gangster years of the 30s, World War II and the early 1950s. Stewart along with Vera Miles and Murray Hamilton give fine performances in a film that is both serious & fun, well-paced, entertaining and in some moments, very moving. A fine film that I would recomend to anybody.