''The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover'' is a 1977 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written, produced, and directed by

Larry Cohen Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television, best known as an author of horror and science fiction films — often containing police procedural and ...

. It stars Broderick Crawford as Hoover, alongside an ensemble cast including

Jose Ferrer Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya * Jose the Galilea ...

Michael Parks Michael Parks (born Harry Samuel Parks; April 24, 1940 – May 9, 2017) was an American singer and actor. He appeared in many films and made frequent television appearances, notably starring in the 1969–1970 series '' Then Came Bronson'', but ...

, Rip Torn, James Wainwright,

Celeste Holm Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's '' Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in ''Come to ...

Ronee Blakely Ronee Sue Blakley (born August 24, 1945) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, composer, producer and director. She is perhaps best known for her role as the fictional country superstar Barbara Jean in Robert Altman's 1975 film ''Nashville ...

John Marley John Marley (born Mortimer Marlieb, October 17, 1907 – May 22, 1984) was an American actor who was known for his role as Phil Cavalleri in ''Love Story'' and as Jack Woltz—the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head o ...

Michael Sacks Michael Sacks (born September 11, 1948 in New York City) is an American actor and technology industry executive who played the role of Billy Pilgrim in George Roy Hill's '' Slaughterhouse Five'' (1972). Biography Sacks has a Bachelor of Arts in ...

, Brad Dexter,

Tanya Roberts Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Leigh Blum; October 15, 1949 – January 4, 2021) was an American actress. She played Julie Rogers in the final season of the television series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1980–1981), Stacey Sutton in the James Bond fi ...

and in final screen appearances,

Jack Cassidy John Joseph Edward Cassidy (March 5, 1927 – December 12, 1976), was an American actor, singer and theater director known for his work in the theater, television and films. He received multiple Tony Award nominations and a win, as well a ...

and

Dan Dailey Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Biography Early life D ...

. Both Cassidy and Dailey met with then First Lady

Betty Ford Elizabeth Anne Ford (; formerly Warren; April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011) was the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and set a precedent as a p ...

and helped director Cohen get permission to film in Washington, D.C., in locales where the real Hoover visited or worked. The film was shown at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

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 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and Richard M. Nixon: actor Howard Da Silva played Roosevelt, and impersonator James LaRoe (credited as Richard M. Dixon) plays Nixon. In an interview in 2019, Cohen said "it enraged all the senators and congressmen that showed up, which I guess was the thing I wanted to do in the first place: make trouble". 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 shows the Nixon administration attempting and failing to obtain the files and imply that Hoover's blackmail material relating to Nixon was 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 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 Magazines public accusation of Hoover being

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

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. Cohen said he did not believe the rumors about Hoover being gay:

"As far as I could ascertain there was never a physical relationship between Hoover and Colson 'sic'' They were two old bachelors who liked to go to the ball game and the race track and that was it. There was no romance. All that stuff about Hoover putting on women’s clothing was a total lie. Every responsible historian has for the last fifteen years written that that was nonsense. Never happened. It was subject for late night comedians to tell jokes about and they perpetuated this falsehood."

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

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for '' The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingt ...

and

Carl Bernstein Carl Milton Bernstein ( ; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for ''The Washington Post'' in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original n ...

in their investigation of the President. In an interview from 2019 writer-director Larry Cohen said he knew back then that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, and that this knowledge informed his film: "Nobody wanted to believe it. Least of all ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', because if it was known that Woodward and Bernstein had gotten their information from the FBI they wouldn’t have gotten any Pulitzer Prizes."

Cast

* Broderick Crawford as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ** James Wainwright as Young J. Edgar Hoover *

as Attorney General

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime, w ...

as Lionel McCoy *

as Florence Hollister * Rip Torn as Dwight Webb *

as FBI Associate Director

Clyde Tolson Clyde Anderson Tolson (May 22, 1900 – April 14, 1975) was the second-ranking official of the FBI from 1930 until 1972, from 1947 titled Associate Director, primarily responsible for personnel and discipline. He was the ''protégé'', long-ti ...

Ronee Blakley Ronee Sue Blakley (born August 24, 1945) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, composer, producer and director. She is perhaps best known for her role as the fictional country superstar Barbara Jean in Robert Altman's 1975 film ''Nashville ...

as Carrie DeWitt *

as Dave Hindley * Howard Da Silva as President

as FBI Agent Melvin Purvis * Raymond St. Jacques as Martin Luther King *

June Havoc June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, ...

as Hoover's Mother * Lloyd Nolan as Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone *

Andrew Duggan Andrew Duggan (December 28, 1923 – May 15, 1988) was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage. Background Duggan was born in ...

as President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To N ...

George Plimpton George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was also known for " ...

Quentin Reynolds Quentin James Reynolds (April 11, 1902 – March 17, 1965) was an American journalist and World War II war correspondent. He also played American football for one season in the National Football League (NFL) with the Brooklyn Lions. Early life ...

Lloyd Gough Lloyd Gough (born Michael Gough; September 21, 1907 – July 23, 1984) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Life and career Born Michael Gough in New York City, he was a noted character actor. Married to actress-turned-activi ...

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...

* William Jordan as President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

* Brad Dexter as

Alvin Karpis Alvin Francis Karpis (born Albin Francis Karpavičius; August 10, 1907 – August 26, 1979), a Depression-era gangster nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile and called "Ray" by his gang members, was a Canadian-born (naturalized American) crim ...

* Bruce Weitz as Voice On Tape

References

External links

*
Article on film
at '' Bright Lights Film Journal''
Article on film
at ''

Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, The 1977 films 1970s biographical films 1970s biographical drama films American biographical films American biographical drama films American International Pictures films Cultural depictions of J. Edgar Hoover Cultural depictions of Franklin D. Roosevelt Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Robert F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Lyndon B. Johnson Cultural depictions of Richard Nixon Cultural depictions of Martin Luther King Jr. Films directed by Larry Cohen Films scored by Miklós Rózsa Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Washington, D.C. 1977 drama films Films with screenplays by Larry Cohen 1970s English-language films 1970s American films