The FBI Story

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The FBI Story
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Produced by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Richard L. Breen
John Twist
Starring James Stewart
Vera Miles
Music by Max Steiner
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) October, 1959
Running time 149 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

The FBI Story is a 1959 drama film directed and produced by Mervyn LeRoy and starring James Stewart. Based on a book by Don Whitehead, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had great influence over the production, with J. Edgar Hoover acting as a co-producer of sorts. Hoover even forced LeRoy to re-shoot several scenes he didn't think portrayed the FBI in an appropriate light, and played a pivotal role in the casting for the film. Hoover himself briefly appeared in the film.

[edit] Plot

(James Stewart) recounts his history as an FBI agent during a lecture. He recounts his first involvement as a government clerk through his time as an agent combating the Ku Klux Klan and spies.

[edit] Reception

The film found minor success when first released, but was poorly received by critics. The most common criticism was the film played more like propaganda than a stand-alone film. These critiques are based in fact, as the film's production was greatly associated with the real FBI, and even J. Edgar Hoover. Today, the film has largely been forgotten, though it has been recently released on DVD, and memorable for its stars James Stewart and Vera Miles. This film also inspired producer Quinn Martin to produce his long-running television series of The F.B.I.. The film naturally deals with the FBI's successes and has exciting scenes depicting its war on gangsters in the 1930s; one critic compared the sequences to the memorable gangster films Warner Brothers made during that decade.

[edit] Cast

James Stewart as John Michael ('Chip') Hardesty
Vera Miles as Lucy Ann Hardesty
Murray Hamilton as Sam Crandall
Larry Pennell as George Crandall
Nick Adams as John Gilbert ('Jack') Graham
Diane Jergens as Jennie Hardesty
Jean Willes as Anna Sage
Joyce Taylor as Anne Hardesty
Victor Millan as Mario



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Films Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Little Caesar (1931) • Five Star Final (1931) • Tonight or Never (1931) • Two Seconds (1932) • Three on a Match (1932) • I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) • Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) • Tugboat Annie (1933) • The World Changes (1933) • Anthony Adverse (1936) • Waterloo Bridge (1940) • Escape (1940) • Blossoms in the Dust (1941) • Random Harvest (1942) • Madame Curie (1943) • Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) • The House I Live In (1945) • Without Reservations (1946) • Little Women (1949) • Quo Vadis (1951) • Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) • Mister Roberts (1955) • The Bad Seed (1956) • Toward the Unknown (1956) • No Time for Sergeants (1958) • The FBI Story (1959) • A Majority of One (1961) • Gypsy (1962)
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