Last night we went to see Clint Eastwood’s latest film, “J Edgar”, with Leonardo Di Caprio in the title role and Judi Dench as his mother. I would recommend it, even to people who, like me, have never found Hoover an attractive character. It taught me some more American history and had me googling people like Emma Goldman. I didn’t know about the bomb and gun attacks on senators and returning servicemen after the First World War.
There were many little details, such as Bobby Kennedy’s crisp New England accent and the crewcut of one of Nixon’s henchman, which demonstrated the trouble taken to get things accurate. Nixon didn’t come across as lovable either. There was only one scene of Hoover putting on one of his mother’s dresses and the relationship between him and Clyde Tolson was portrayed as that between two repressed homosexuals. It was interesting to see Hoover’s insistence on the development of FBI forensic laboratories, which led to the arrest of Bruno Hauptmann, kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby.
The final scene of Hoover’s faithful secretary shredding his private files as soon as she heard of his death leaves one wondering just how many scandals were hidden. Must have had Nixon wondering for the rest of his presidency whether something nasty was going to crawl out of the woodwork.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Sheona: I like your review. What a nasty little man he was, it sounds like Eastwood has been more than generous to J. Edgar’s memory.
Something did emerge from Nixon’s woodwork, a few months after Hoover’s death, it was called Watergate, Hoover almost certainly knew about it and was possibly complicit.
To further confuse the issue here’s the conspiracy take on the event.
http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae%20Brussell%20Articles/Watergate%20Deaths.html
Top of my ‘must see list’
A few years ago Mrsoldmovie and I spent a night at Carmel in California, where Clint Eastwood used to be Mayor. We checked into our B and B and were asked if we wanted dinner reservations for ‘The Ranch’ the restaurant owned by Clint a few miles down the road, we declined as we were tired and chose to go into town Next morning at breakfast we spoke to a couple who had been to the restaurant and they told us that Clint had popped in and when he did so he always made a point of visiting each table to say hello and chinwag for a bit. He must have been choked when he found out we were unable to visit.
I like your review too. I have to say that di Caprio has improved considerably as an actor since his youf
Coincidentally only yesterday I watched a TV documentary on Hoover. I hadn’t realised before that his power base was founded on the accumulated personal dirt on everybody that mattered for decades and they were what guaranteed his continued tyranny at the FBI.
LW: it seems as if Watergate was more the result W Mark Felt not getting promoted to lead the FBI than anything else. Nixon was actually less corrupt than most presidents, he just got caught because he wouldn’t promote a man who was even more bizarre than J Edgar Hoover.
CO: still, I loathe Dicaprio and will not watch any film with him in it.
Janus: yes, of course. There is an old story, likely not true, but still very much in keeping with how things were regarding the nature of Hoover and Lyndon B Johnson. One evening Johnson visited Hoover in his office at FBI headquarters where, in order to try to get so concessions from him, Hoover showed Johnson a picture of Johnson in bed with his mistress. In turn, Johnson showed Hoover a picture of Hoover wearing a dress and kissing his boyfriend. Hoover immediately dropped the point and both went on their ways.
Yes, Christina, di Caprio did give a great performance. And I have to confess that during one particular scene, I actually felt sorry for J Edgar.
LW, I believe there are still some Hoover fans who were horrified by Eastwood’s film, though I thought the homesexuality was very discreetly handled.
omg, I bet Clint wasn’t half as choked as I would have been in Mrs oldmovie’s shoes.