J. Edgar

[Texas Star]

I think Hollywood is down on Hoover because he was a conservative and a Commie hunter.

Ronald Reagan revealed the extent of Communist penetration of the movie industry, and Hoover also spied very successfully on Commie cells in this country.

It seems ironic that as much as they promote gays otherwise, when they claim that Hoover was gay, they infer that it was perverse. There's no doubt that the media and Hollywood slant what they produce.

 

[williamlayton]

Well, it is well known that he collected/kept info on people. He used this info to blackmail and maintain controls.
He seemed more than just a little interested in the sex lives of some Hollywood Actresses.
Read all of the books on him.
He was a masterful showman--played the press and produced nothing but catching a lot of car thieves.
I have no respect for J Edgar. The agency is better off without him.
Blessings

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I will see that movie when it gets to AMC on cable although I expect only an etertaining story void of history out of any Hollywood fabrication. My only personal interaction with the FBI was touring the Cincinnati FBI office as a boyscout, the highlight of which was when they took us into their shooting range and fired and then ket us heft, aim and hold their unloaded weapons (including a BAR and a Thompson SMG). Anyone who let kids do that today would probably lose his job.

 

[semperfi71]

Armyphotog sez; "...Yes, I'm afraid he was a very flawed individual. However, unlike his own lifestyle, he demanded total integrity from his agents, and perfered they be family men of the highest character."

It was almost always common in air traffic control that a controller who was "weak" as in had a hard time making the program, or was a "weak-stick", i.e. poor controller after checking out...became the most demanding if they became instructors or supervisors.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

William O. Douglas's repeated divorces and remarriages to much younger women caused hims financial strains which he relieved by being being on the boards of various "foundations" and it's been long suspected-but never proved, like J. Edgar being a poof-that he took money under the table and that influenced his decisions. Yet he is a revered figure while J. Edgar is reviled and condemned. Also much of what the "Mafia" did back then was not illegal under Federal law-Al Capone was nailed on income tax evasion, and until the passage of the RICO Act in 1970 the IRS was the government agency most feared by "The Mob".
I read an account of how the FBI in New England-through its illegal wiretapping-learned of a plot to steal a valuable collection of jade and precious jewels. They let the thieves go through with it, then about a mile or two away the feds stopped the thieves, relieved them of their ill gotten gains, and returned them
to the rightul owners.

 

[Muley Gil]

"When I was growing up I read everything I could by FBI agents or about them. I have never actually met one but I like to think then and now they are some of the best trained LE officers out there."

Obviously, you have never been a poor street cop on the receiving end of a bogus "civil rights violation" being conducted by the FBI, based on the allegations of scum.

Yes, I have known some fine FBI agents and I'm sure that the ones that belong to this Forum fall into that catagory. But the ones I've met that do civils rights investigations are not well loved. I've actually heard one say that he "liked to put cops in jail".

I hate crooked cops more than most, but PLEASE. All of the good FBI agents hate the IA guys too. If you really want to fire them up, refuse to talk to 'em.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Here's about as good a short form discussion as any on the cross dressing thing
The Straight Dope: Was J. Edgar Hoover a cross-dresser?

It simply boils down to a matter of gossip and questionable sources.

There's somewhat better evidence that Hoover had an affair with Dorothy Lamour and Ginger Rogers mom.

Oddly enough the cross dressing allegations would somewhat contradict the allegations that Hoover was a homosexual - as Ed Wood observed many (most?) transvestites are heterosexual.

That kicked off Ermey's career in showbiz, for lack of a better term.

Maybe gave him that little push he needed. He actually appeared as a DI in "The Boys From Company C" in 1978. He was also played a chopper pilot in Apocalypse Now". That role lasted a few seconds.

Oddly enough... it was the FBI that caused Ermey to be in the Phillipines, where Francis Ford Coppola hired him for Apocalypse Now. According to Ermey himself (in a TV Guide interview) he and his wife were running a brothel on Okinawa. He claimed that the FBI was investigating him, and thus he and his wife fled to the PI.

 

[Armyphotog]

Amen to that...The boot camp stuff was as I remembered it....It is the kind of thing you don't forget.....To
Gunny T.D. White who was a vet from WW 11, and Korea...May you rest in peace. God bless you....He sure ,gave us no peace, but he probably saved some of our worthless, lower than whale **** hides.. the rest of the movie and some of the depictions were way out there, but what do you expect from Stone???..............

Want to see a really great movie, try to locate an old one called The DI, starring Jack Webb. Did a great job in it. Most of you are probably too young to have seen the movie, but I believe it would be worth your time to look it up.

 

[Doug.38PR]

I saw the movie yesterday. I have never read anything about J. Edgar Hoover. I have only heard and read the comments of people who have supposedly read about J. Edgar Hoover.

I have the impression that only three people really knew anything about J. Edgar Hoover, his mother, his secretary, and Mr. Tolson.

I do know that is was not uncommon back then for men, and women, to have very, very close friendships with the same sex and those friendships were not based on anything sexual.

Hollywood goes way out of its way to support gay rights but then Hollywood used most of the movie to insinuate a gay relationship between Hoover and Tolson just so they could trash Hoover.

I thought the movie was a cheap shot at a man who probably no one really knew much about.

As my wife told me, "It was not a movie about G-Men, it was a movie about a love affair between two men."

Clint Eastwood was interviewed about a week ago on television and the reporter asked him if the movie would delve deeply into the relationship between Hoover and Tolson.

Eastwood said he did not go into any great details in the movie but he would just leave the assumptions of the relationship up to the audience. He lied. The movie is quite implicit if not explicit in detailing a gay relationship between Hoover and Tolson.

Eastwood's "J. Edgar" to me was about as much trash as Stone's "JFK".

On a lighter side, I kept looking for Hoover to whip out his ".357 Magnum". But in the movie they were so determined to undermine his persona that they had him carrying a very small, short-barreled revolver of what appeared to be a .32 caliber persuasion. It looked like a Colt Pocket Positive with a three inch barrel. BUT...they had all the other "G-Men" carrying large handguns, shotguns, and tommy-guns...

I expect next year this movie will be nominated for several Oscars. It was a cheap shot at a right-wing conservative therefore in true Hollywood fashion a movie worth several Oscars.

Costuming and set design was great though!!

^

I saw the movie the day it came out. In a nutsell, everything this gentleman says is true. Pretty much my take on it too.

I was hoping for a movie about Hoover's FBI, not another Brokeback Mountain "love" movie. (Half the theater about gagged in shock and disgust during Hoover and Toleson's....wrestling match in their bathrobes and how that ended up....won't say anymore). Too bad. It really could have been a good movie, regardless of whether Hoover was right or wrong or both in his actions as director of FBI. I expected better from Clint Eastwood

 

[semperfi71]

Armyphotog sez;

"Want to see a really great movie, try to locate an old one called The DI, starring Jack Webb. Did a great job in it. Most of you are probably too young to have seen the movie, but I believe it would be worth your time to look it up."

The burial of the sand flea was a great moment in that movie!

I got into trouble a couple of times at MCRD, Dan Diego for laughing and smirking over the Drill Instructors' (notice I did not day "DI") antics.

 

[bobcat]

I've been trying to find "The DI" on dvd, but it appears to be unavailable, great show, I remember seeing it when I was kid, and loved it. The sand flea burial is classic...

 

[PALADIN85020]

I've been trying to find "The DI" on dvd, but it appears to be unavailable, great show, I remember seeing it when I was kid, and loved it. The sand flea burial is classic...

I found a DVD of it on eBay a few years ago. It did seem dated, although Jack Webb did a good job. He just came off as too caring - you know, the heart of gold under the gruff exterior kind of thing. As we all know, REAL DI's don't give a flying fig, or if they do, they don't let it show...

John

 

[Doug.38PR]

The F.B.I. Story with James Stewart is a MUCH better movie about the FBI than this Leonardo DiCraprio thing. While the movie is careful to step around certain fumbles of the FBI and overpolishes it a bit, it goes through a good chunk of the history of the FBI and had the real J. Edgar Hoover on hand for advice and even a cameo appearance.

 

[therevjay]

Checkman sez; "The movie was made with the cooperation of the F.B.I. Hoover had a bobbed hammer Colt Pocket Positive (.32 NP) that he carried for years."

I got lucky and called one right! I have the exact same revolver with the exception of the bobbed hammer. I have not shot it yet but am looking forward to reloading for it. It is definitely a "pocket pistol" and I would not sneer at its ability to defend one from harm.

No.....I am not going to bob the hammer and start wearing dresses............

Ahh jeez, not only are my first & middle names Jay Edgar but I also carry a Colt pocket positive .32 police with a bobbed hammer. What the heck I may as well qive up and go buy a dress.

 

[Straightshooter2]

I've been trying to find "The DI" on dvd, but it appears to be unavailable, great show, I remember seeing it when I was kid, and loved it. The sand flea burial is classic...

The DI is available on Amazon.com if anyone wants it.
The D.I.

CW

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I think Hollywood is down on Hoover because he was a conservative and a Commie hunter.

Ronald Reagan revealed the extent of Communist penetration of the movie industry, and Hoover also spied very successfully on Commie cells in this country.

It seems ironic that as much as they promote gays otherwise, when they claim that Hoover was gay, they infer that it was perverse. There's no doubt that the media and Hollywood slant what they produce.

I'm not saying Hoover was a saint, but what you said is so true. Certain people will revile Reagan forever because of his success against communism, same with Hoover. So, like the people who condemn Charles Askins graphic stories of killing people AFTER he's dead, the same was done with Hoover. It's just a statement against other people who they hate and disagree with. And I've heard pro gay commentators attack certain people (won't mention names) by calling them gay as if it's all of a sudden sick to them.

 

[handejector]

I guess we're close to a "political" discussion.

Not really.
I think the movie can be discussed without going into politics, gay rights and/or a general discussion of homosexuality.

As usual, some of you are proving me wrong.
Whether it keeps going or gets locked is up to you.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

As usual, some of you are proving me wrong.
Whether it keeps going or gets locked is up to you.

Would you mind unlocking the Pit Bull Thread-it was just starting to get good

 

[handejector]

I'd rather reopen the Coliseum and buy a couple of lions.....