The FBI Story (1959)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Richard L. Breen (screenplay) &
John Twist (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

Tagline:

The fury of America's fight for decency !

Plot:

A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Gangster | Ku Klux Klan | FBI Agent | Parricide

Awards:

1 win

Cast

James Stewart	...	John Michael ('Chip') Hardesty
Vera Miles	...	Lucy Ann Hardesty
Murray Hamilton	...	Sam Crandall
Larry Pennell	...	George Crandall
Nick Adams	...	John Gilbert ('Jack') Graham
Diane Jergens	...	Jennie Hardesty
Jean Willes	...	Anna Sage
Joyce Taylor	...	Anne Hardesty
Victor Millan	...	Mario
Parley Baer	...	Harry Dakins
Fay Roope	...	Dwight McCutcheon
Ed Prentiss	...	U.S. Marshal
Robert Gist	...	Medicine Salesman
Buzz Martin	...	Mike Hardesty
Ken Mayer	...	Casket Salesman (as Kenneth Mayer)

Runtime:

149 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Norway:16 | USA:Approved (certificate #19140) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

46th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Cameo: [J. Edgar Hoover]

Goofs:

Factual errors: The movie shows George "Machine Gun" Kelly as being among the last 1930's era hoodlum to be arrested. In reality, he was the first to be arrested or killed by the FBI. He was captured in September of 1933, long before the arrests/kills of John Dillinger (July 1934), "Pretty Boy" Floyd (October 1934), "Baby Face" Nelson (November 1934), "Ma" Barker (January 1935), and Alvin Karpis (January 1936).

Quotes:

John Gilbert Graham: [after being arrested for murder] In case I get any mail, you can send it to Canon City Prison for the next month or so. After that you can send it to Hell!

Movie Connections:

Spin off "The F.B.I." (1965)

Soundtrack:

(You May Not Be an Angel, but) I'll String Along with You

Dated and Disappointing Propaganda

After resolving a case related to an explosion of an airplane with forty-nine casualties by a swindler using state-of-art technique, the experienced agent Chip Hardesty (James Stewart) gives a lecture at FBI Headquarter in Washington. He tells the story of the agency entwined with his own personal life since 1924, when FBI was a bureaucratic department that gave employment to god nephews of politicians. Along the years, the agency modernizes and faces Ku Klux Klan; deaths of Indians enriched with oil; the organized crime, when the agents are authorized to use weapons for the first time; the period of World War II; and the Cold War, acting as a counter-espionage agency. In his personal life, he gets married with Lucy Ann Hardesty (Vera Miles); they have three children; he loses his best friend and also agent Sam Crandall (Murray Hamilton), killed in action; his marriage has a crisis due to his dedication to the Bureau; his older daughter gets married; and he loses his son in World War II.

"The FBI Story" is a dated and disappointing propaganda of the FBI of Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, who certainly sponsored this flick. The idea is to show that the omnipotent and powerful FBI is composed by human beings, with flaws and family like any other ordinary American person. Chip and Lucy are the typical middle-class American family of the 50's. However, this film is bureaucratic and too long, and does not bring any emotion to the viewer, in spite of the good performance of James Stewart. The greetings in the very end are ridiculous. The DVD released in Brazil by Ocean distributor has a total lack of synchronization between sound and image. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A História do FBI" ("The FBI Story")