Review – The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover

This docudrama biography of the legendary FBI chief is nothing short of weird. Of course part of what threw me off was the Netflix description, which made it sound like the movie would feature at least some exploration of the subject’s cross-dressing tendencies. However, a quick check of the original release date (1977) quickly reveals that this was actually made decades before some of the racier details of Hoover’s private life became public knowledge. Instead, what we get is a picture that’s unlikely to satisfy many audience members. Hoover fans will dislike the scenes in which the man actually tries to protect suspects’ Constitutional rights, not to mention the allusions to his sexual orientation. Detractors are likely to feel that he gets off too easy, with insufficient emphasis placed on the lives he ruined and the roles he played in some of the creepier government shenanigans of the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Even viewers who just like a good story will probably find this choppy and hard to follow, more like pages chosen at random from a diary than like an actual plot. Despite its orphan status, however, it’s an interesting production. Mildly amusing