Clint Eastwood's secret-agent man 'J. Edgar'
Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and director Clint Eastwood, right, on the set of "J. Edgar." (Warner Bros.) Credit: Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and director Clint Eastwood, right, on the set of "J. Edgar."(Warner Bros.)
J. Edgar Hoover, who always dressed for success and was the controversial head of the FBI for almost 50 years, had a symbiotic relationship with cinema: In the days of Prohibition-era gangsterism, he appeared in newsreels to push public support for his brand of bare-knuckle justice.
Although he was wary at first, he eventually got behind "G Men," the wildly profitable 1935 James Cagney crime drama that helped popularize the fledgling FBI. And one of his agency's earliest triumphs - the gunning down of Public Enemy No. 1 John Dillinger - occurred as America's Most Wanted was leaving a screening of the Clark Gable feature "Manhattan Melodrama."
It is highly unlikely, however, that Hoover would have put his imprimatur on "J. Edgar," Clint Eastwood's sure-to-be-contentious biopic, which depicts the late FBI icon in a way that would have him pulling out his hair - and probably opening dossiers on Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio and anyone else involved in the film.
As portrayed by DiCaprio - who alternates between the fresh-faced John Edgar of the '20s and the wizened, Yoda-like Hoover of the '70s - the film's subject is a small-minded, venal man, tortured by his secret homosexuality, driven by a hunger for public admiration, and willing to do virtually anything to maintain his grasp on power, including the blackmailing of presidents.
"Here's this guy," as Eastwood told an interviewer, "starting the Bureau of Investigation, which later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then [he] goes on to stay for 48 years, through eight presidents. Of course nobody could fire him, because he had something on everybody."
Hoover's secret files - shredded after his death, according to the film, by his longtime aide Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) - were said to contain secrets about virtually everyone in public life, and were used by Hoover not only to maintain his authority but to preserve his biggest secret: Despite several heterosexual flirtations (including a relationship with film star Dorothy Lamour), Hoover was gay. And he and longtime assistant Clyde Tolson were lovers.
"Some people might say [they] were just inseparable pals," Eastwood said to Entertainment Weekly. "Or maybe it's a love story without being gay - I don't know. But it's very interesting, the way ["Milk" screenwriter Dustin] Lance [Black] laid out the script. It was nicely written. It didn't go to the obvious."
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
