The FBI Story (Movie 1959)

With the FBI in the headlines of late in mostly a negative light, I wanted to watch a movie that harkens back to the glory days of the bureau. The FBI Story came out in 1959 and had the full cooperation and influence of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. You'll even catch a quick cameo by Hoover himself. It follows agent Chip Hardesty played by the great Jimmy Stewart. Stewart always had the immense talent of playing an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. He displays that well as Chip who is there in the early 1920s when the FBI is some scattered field offices throughout the country. No real organization or mission. It all changes when a man named J. Edgar Hoover becomes director. We see the FBI expand and become more sophisticated in fighting crime with forensics. Chip as an agent tackles the Ku Klux Klan, gangsters like Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, and communists spies. While being in these dangerous situations he also has a wife and children and deals with the ups and downs of family life. This is a very idealized story but the overview is pretty interesting. For instance, they did not always carry firearms. When they were being killed by mobsters they had to fight for the right to finally carry a weapon. It was entertaining to get this basic history of the G Men.