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"The FBI Story" tries to tell the story of the evolution of the FBI over 35 years, through the eyes of a veteran agent, Chip Hardesty (James Stewart). It spins off into several segments covering Hardesty's career. There's a segment on the Klu Klux Klan (with nary an African American in sight), one showing the cheating of native Americans out of their oil leases in Texas and several brief run-ins with the well known gangsters of the 1930s.

Inrerspersed with these episodes are home life interludes where Stewart's character turns into George Bailey ("Its a Wonderful Life" (1946)). He meets and marries Lucy (Vera Miles) and we follow their lives through the birth of three children, a miscarriage, a separation and a war time tragedy.

Told in a documentary style, this film, in my opinion is far too long at 149 minutes. The action sequences, such as they are, are brief and with no character development of the gangsters. They are simply confronted by the FBI and either arrested or gunned down. The Hardesty character is hardly involved in these segments and he does not confront any of the gangsters directly.

The at home sequences while well played, look like something out of "Father Knows Best", the popular TV series of the day. Another thing I found unusual was the fact that Stewart and Miles basically carry the whole film. Other characters appear briefly then either get killed off or disappear altogether. While Stewart and Miles do their best, they hardly seem to have aged 35 years over the course of the story. And there are no name actors to speak of in the supporting cast. Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell and Nick Adams do appear briefly, but were not that well known in 1959.

James Cagney's "G-Men" (1935) covered the FBI's early years much better.

This is an entertaining "history" of the FBI, but it should be viewed as fiction, because that's exactly what it is. What else could it be when J. Edgar Hoover personally approved and had a cameo role in the production. James Stewart is excellent, as usual, and the supporting cast, except for the talentless Vera Miles, is good. Murray Hamilton is especially good in a supporting role as Stewart's partner and best friend. The FBI accomplishments that the film highlights are undoubtedly all true. What is significant is what it leaves out.

One of the most shameful parts of the film is the depiction of the killing of John Dillinger. It is portrayed pretty much as it happened, but no mention at all is made of Melvin Purvis, the Chicago Bureau Chief who headed the operation. Instead, the operation is depicted as if the fictional Chip Hardesty were running it. It has been said that Hoover was jealous of the publicity that Purvis received after Dillinger was killed; Purvis was subsequently transferred to a remote outpost, and shortly afterward left the FBI. This is no doubt why Purvis was never mentioned in the film. But this viewer, at least, paused to think that if Purvis was treated this way, what about all the agents who conducted all the other operations depicted in the film. Were they also completely ignored and replaced by the fictional Hardesty.

The film is probably accurate in its portrayal of FBI activity up through the end of WWII. However, after that point, the film would have us believe that the only threat facing the US came from international communism, which is no doubt what Hoover believed. Never mind the Mafia. Never mind the lynchings that were still going on in the South. Never mind that blacks were being intimidated to keep them from voting in much of the South. I don't know if the FBI had started wiretapping Martin Luther King by the time this film was made, but if not, it wasn't very long afterward that it started.

As I said at the outset, this is pretty good entertainment, but it should be viewed as the sanitized fictionalization that it is.

Entertaining docudrama about the history of the FBI, as told by one agent in particular named Chip (James Stewart). Yes, it's more fiction than fact but it's also a good movie. Judging by some of the reviews here, most of the people hating on the movie seem to be political ax grinders. Obviously J. Edgar Hoover had a hands-on part in the making of this film. He inspires Jimmy to stick with the FBI in an amusingly corny scene. But I'm judging the movie on an entertainment basis, first and foremost, and this movie is entertaining.

The FBI parts are great. The parts dealing with Jimmy's domestic life not so much. Vera Miles is very attractive as a blonde and plays the clichéd but likable wife role well. It's just this part of the movie isn't that interesting and takes up too much time in a movie that goes on for over two hours. Murray Hamilton is good as Jimmy's partner ("I never want to cool off! NEVER!"). If your blood boils about J. Edgar Hoover or you demand absolute historical accuracy from any film depicting real people and events, you'll hate this. But if you like Jimmy Stewart, you'll certainly find things to enjoy here. He's really the whole show. Whether he's taking on the KKK, gangsters, and Commies or just getting ticked off at his kids, he's fun to watch. It's a little long but never boring.

In the tradition of G-Men, The House On 92nd Street, The Street With No Name, now comes The FBI Story one of those carefully supervised films that showed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the best possible light. While it's 48 year director J. Edgar Hoover was alive, it would be showed in no other kind of light.

The book by Don Whitehead that this film is based on is a straight forward history of the bureau from it's founding in 1907 until roughly the time the film The FBI Story came out. It's important sometimes to remember there WAS an FBI before J. Edgar Hoover headed it. Some of that time is covered in the film as well.

But Warner Brothers was not making a documentary so to give the FBI flesh and blood the fictional character of John 'Chip' Hardesty was created. Hardesty as played by James Stewart is a career FBI man who graduated law school and rather than go in practice took a job with the bureau in the early twenties.

In real life the Bureau was headed by William J. Burns of the Burns Private Detective Agency. It was in fact a grossly political operation then as is showed in the film. Burns was on the periphery of the scandals of the Harding administration. When Hoover was appointed in 1924 to bring professional law enforcement techniques and rigorous standards of competence in, he did just that.

Through the Hardesty family which is Stewart and wife Vera Miles we see the history of the FBI unfold. In addition we see a lot of their personal family history which is completely integrated into the FBI's story itself. Stewart and Miles are most assuredly an all American couple. We follow the FBI through some of the cases Stewart is involved with, arresting Ku Klux Klan members, a plot to murder oil rich Indians, bringing down the notorious criminals of the thirties, their involvement with apprehending Nazi sympathizers in World War II and against Communist espionage in the Cold War.

There is a kind of prologue portion where Stewart tells a class at the FBI Academy before going into the history of the bureau as it intertwines with his own. That involves a bomb placed on an airline by a son who purchased a lot of life insurance on his mother before the flight. Nick Adams will give you the creeps as the perpetrator and the story is sadly relevant today.

Of course if The FBI Story were written and produced today it would reflect something different and not so all American. Still the FBI does have a story to tell and it is by no means a negative one.

The FBI Story is not one of Jimmy Stewart's best films, but it's the first one I ever saw with my favorite actor in it so it has a special fondness for me. If the whole FBI were made up Jimmy Stewarts, I'd feel a lot better about it. There's also a good performance by Murray Hamilton as his friend and fellow agent who is killed in a shootout with Baby Face Nelson.

Vera Miles didn't just marry Stewart, she in fact married the FBI as the film demonstrates. It's dated mostly, but still has a good and interesting story to tell.

This is a film that on the surface would seem to be all about J.Edgar Hoover giving himself a a big pat on the back for fighting Klansmen,going after Indian killers, hunting the famous gangsters of the 1930's, fighting Nazi's in the US and South America during world war 2 and Commies in New York during the early 1950's. Of course in 1959 we did not know about Mr. Hoover's obsession for keeping secret files on honest Americans, bugging people like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, but worst of all,his secret love affair with his deputy director,Clyde Tolson( If you want to know more about that subject, I suggest seeing the film Citizen Cohn). Hoover aside, This story of a life in the FBI as told by Jimmy Stewart makes for a decent, but dated film. Vera Miles as his devoted wife is also good. But Jimmy is the movie. As much as Hoover controlled production and always made sure the FBI was seen without fault, Jimmy Stewart gave the film a human side,quite an achievement considering Hoover was always looking over his shoulder. The background score is also pleasant. I have read recent online articles suggesting that this is a forgotten film. Jimmy Stewart was one of the greatest film stars of all time and none of his films should be forgotten. TCM was the last network to show it a long time ago and I hope they show it again.

... and this little obscure piece of cinema history takes a book written about the FBI and turns it into two well told interwoven stories. One is the story of the life of one of the first FBI agents, the fictional John Hardesty (James Stewart) and his personal life through about 35 years as he marries and raises a family. The other is the story of the FBI from its infancy, told through the eyes and narration of Hardesty himself, covering several cases through the years including the Klan in the 20s, gangsters in the 30s, wartime espionage in the 40s, and then Communist espionage in the 50s. Vera Miles plays Hardesty's wife who does have her limits as the family is moved all over the country as Hardesty's assignments change.

One of the most interesting scenes to me is inside the Washington Bureau where dozens of women are in a big windowless concrete room filing stacks of correspondence by hand. That had to be mind numbing work.

I was surprised when I discovered the director was Mervyn LeRoy, because, although he directed some good ones over the years, he had a couple of bad habits. One was taking every single adapted play he directed and making it look like a play. In 1932 he actually changed scenes in one such film by having a curtain fall and then rise on another scene. The other bad habit was taking adapted books and have them play out like somebody is reading you the book - books on tape on film so to speak. This film, however, was done very well. But then I learned he and J. Edgar Hoover were friends, so maybe he had an extra incentive to have this one turn out well.

Agent Hardesty was certainly at the center of some big operations. The great irony of that being that J. Edgar was such a jealous guy that Hardesty would have spent a large part of his career in exile if he had been a real person with such a record of success. But then we would have no movie. So I found the secret to enjoying this film is to just forget about some of the actual truth that this film whitewashes over and enjoy it as an action/crime film of the time.

It can get a bit heavy handed and corny at times, but it holds up well due to the bigger than life talent of every man James Stewart.

Has anyone noticed that James Earl Jones is the waiter who is serving when Hagarty's wife reveals that she is pregnant while they are at the restaurant next to the lake. I watched this movie on a video that I had taped off of the television. When I watched this scene I thought I recognized the voice of Jones when the "waiter" laughed at the end. I rewound the tape then slowly stepped through that part as the camera pulled back and showed the waiter. Listen closely as the waiter laughs when Hagarty looks up and tells him that they are going to have a baby, then watch closely or slow down the scene when the camera shows the waiter, albeit, quickly.

This starts almost like a high school educational film about the FBI. The narration is actually veteran agent Chip Hardesty (James Stewart) doing a lecture. He recounts the story of the FBI starting from its early haphazard days in 1924. He marries pretty librarian Lucy Ann Ballard (Vera Miles). Over the years, he investigates the Ku Klux Klan, the Osage Indian murders, various gangsters, Nazis in Brazil, and communist spies.

This is a sympathetic look at the FBI approved by Hoover. The opening is like a school educational film which is par for the course. It's an old fashion take on the federal police force. It definitely doesn't indulge in any controversies against the FBI. There may violence by the KKK but there is no mentions of lynching. They round up enemy aliens during WWII but they don't talk about the thousands of innocent citizens in internment camps. It's also episodic in nature. The plot doesn't flow as much as it continues on and on. This is definitely a movie where Hollywood submits to authority.

I caught this movie like many, on a movie channel playing in the background - until I got caught up in it.

How factual is it? I have no idea, I'm not an FBI expert - but it contains a lot that I do know from history, so while the film overall is clearly romanticized, it's also factual enough to pique my interest in learning more. I plan to check out some of the movies noted in other reviews.

Meanwhile, I'm scoring this one highly, because it drew far more interest than the average old movie that I enjoy playing in the background.

It actually tells two stories, one of how the FBI developed and grew, and one of an agent and his family, growing alongside the agency.

I love Jimmy Stewart but honestly he only plays one part, which is Jimmy Stewart - and seeing the details of how the FBI operated at that time (focused primarily on the first half of Hoover's reign) through the Jimmy Stewart character - or, through Jimmy Stewart as we know him in every movie he ever made, the super-good idealized man imbued with every good moral characteristic that exists - is a charming as well as interesting story.

I plan to watch this film again, this time with intention.

This isn't among Jimmy Stewart's best films--I'm quick to admit that. However, while some view his film as pure propaganda, I'm wondering what's so wrong with that? Yes, sure, like the TV show THE FBI, this is an obvious case of the Bureau doing some PR work to try to drum up support. But, as entertainment goes, it does a good job. Plus, surprisingly enough for the time it was made, the film focuses more on crime than espionage and "Commies". Instead, it's a fictionalization of one of the earliest agents and the career he chose. Now considering the agent is played by Jimmy Stewart, then it's pretty certain the acting and writing were good--as this was a movie with a real budget and a studio who wasn't about to waste the star in a third-rate flick. So overall, it's worth seeing but not especially great.

An entertaining tribute to American law enforcement's most legendary force falls victim to Hollywood hokum, unrealistic dialogue, and choking piety regarding everything about the Federal Bureau Of Investigation, especially its founder, J. Edgar Hoover.

While Hoover is often referenced, sometimes heard, and even briefly seen at his desk, Buddha-like, the focus here is on fictional FBI agent Chip Hardesty (James Stewart), who dedicates himself to serving the bureau through decades of crime-fighting heroics. Whether ambushing John Dillinger or rounding up the Ku Klux Klan, Hardesty provides a case example of the heroism from which the FBI was made.

The final words of the film, superimposed on the screen over triumphant fanfare, establish what "The FBI Story" is all about: "Our sincere thanks to the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover not only for their guidance and active participation in the making of this motion picture but also for making this world of ours a safer place in which to live..."

If they had saved this boilerplate for the end, "The FBI Story" might have had a chance. Stewart was one of the greats, and in Vera Miles as the love interest he enjoys steady support. Few color films from the 1950s are this crisp- and dynamic-looking. Director Mervyn LeRoy was famously good at his job, and manages some stellar framing work with an eye for period detail in the episodic sequences showing Hardesty on the job at various stages of the FBI's existence.

But the accent of this film is not on delivering quality entertainment but burnishing Director Hoover's ego. At every turn, we get our noses rubbed into how brilliant an organization he set up, to the point where suspense gets crushed before it has a chance to develop.

An opening sequence features Nick Adams as a young man named Graham who kills his mother and 48 other people on board a plane by putting a bomb inside her luggage. Immediately we see FBI agents questioning him and searching his house until he cracks and confesses, even yelling at the end to send his mail to hell.

"Jack Graham's only mistake was that he was absent-minded," Stewart tells us in a voice-over. "He forgot about the broad research powers of the FBI."

Elsewhere we get lengthy descriptions of what these powers are, and even footage of people typing or staring into microscopes at FBI headquarters.

The dialogue in this film is much too purple, as if competing for your attention with Max Steiner's bombastic score. There are some howlers other reviewers here pointed out; my favorite is when Miles gets cross when she finds out her husband is going out armed to take on some public enemies. He tells her to take it easy.

"You take it easy, Chip! I don't look good in black."

Murray Hamilton has his own over-the-top moments as Chip's FBI buddy, all charged up with Hoover in charge. "I never wanna cool down," he says. No worries; a breathless script by Richard L. Breen and John Twist won't let him until it's time to stop and smell the lilacs.

There's one solid sequence where Hardesty investigates the murders of Osage Indians in Oklahoma. That works as a crime story with some mystery and humor to it, not to mention a satisfying wrapper.

The rest of the time, it's like some jacked-up medley of J. Edgar's greatest hits, like taking down bank robbers and a Soviet spy ring. Much padding involves Hardesty's family affairs, like his search for missing tissue paper or a crisis involving a shattered dish of pickles. Even when the script tries to drum up a crisis between Hardesty and his wife, the result is unconvincing and much-too-easily resolved.

That goes for most everything else involving "The FBI Story," rich in visual style but cheap in too many other departments, including the kind of patriotism too often used as the refuge of scoundrels. I do admire J. Edgar Hoover in some areas, but when it came to making movies, he should have stayed in the closet.

This movie is very well filmed for its age (1959), it is one of the better FBI movie's that actually portray it as the FBI should be portrayed, as the good guys, not the bad guys. Though it is one sided I think the point of the movie was to show the triumphs of the FBI. Jimmy Stewart was great in it!

This well-mounted film details the fabricated history of the FBI from its formation in 1924 (when it was nothing more than an over-glorified legal clerk's office) to the way it stood in 1959 as the most powerful law enforcement agency in the entire USA.

While watching this flick it's important to keep in mind the year that it was released (1959), which was at a time when the FBI was considered to have a virtually spotless, 'goody-2-shoes' reputation. So, please, don't anyone expect any disreputable scenes of bureau agents wire-tapping Civil Rights Leaders, or, especially, scenes with the likes of J. Edgar Hoover twittering around in his favourite dress.

The FBI Story is competently told through the eyes of fictitious FBI Agent, Chip Hardesty, played by actor James Stewart. It's interesting to note that J. Edgar Hoover, himself, personally chose Stewart for the part of Chip.

THE FBI STORY has a somewhat lengthy running time of 149 minutes. Its story is primarily a compilation of separate episodes featuring the tough FBI boys tackling such villains as the Klu Klux Klan, the Mob, the Nazis, and, of course, the Communists. The opening sequence is a real 'Wowser', showcasing a matricidal mad bomber.

The FBI Story's tag-line was - "The Fury Of America's Fight for Decency!" And on a final 'special' trivia note - During the entire filming of The FBI Story two very real FBI Agents were on the set at all times.

The history of the FBI, as told from the point of view of Agent Stewart via flashbacks, interwoven with his personal life story. Stewart and Miles (as his wife) are pretty good, as is Hamilton as an earnest agent. The problem is that the episodic nature of the story makes it difficult to get involved. It's like watching bits and pieces of a dozen different movies as we get glimpses of a who's who cast of gangsters. Some of the episodes are too long, some too short, and some just look out of place (Stewart's daughter's school sequence). Overall, it goes on way too long. Nevertheless, it's worth a look for its handsome production values.

It's said that for this project, J. Edgar Hoover would only accept a director on whom he had dirt, and apparently LeRoy fit the bill. The film is entertainingly Hollywood, and Jimmy Stewart is loveable as always, but the Bureau and its Chief are painted much too heroically. History has shown that the FBI was stomping on civil liberties even as it claimed to be defending them. This picture is filled with outright lies, and I'm sure the Bureau took great care that it was just that way, or the film would never have been released. This is a great example of J. Edgar Hoover's use of the media to re-write the history of the FBI.

James Stewart did a handful of biopic/historical films during this period of his career. He was Glenn Miller in the Glenn Miller Story (1954), for Universal Pictures. He was Charles Lindberg in the Spirit of St. Louis (1957), for Warner Bros., and he also did this film for Warner Bros. The difference between these two films was, in this film, he plays a fictitious character, John Michael 'Chip' Hardesty, who's story revolves around the real-life, early history and formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Like many historically driven films, this one starts in present day (1959), as Chip gives a speech to the new students at the FBI and through flashbacks tells the story of the FBI, beginning in 1924. The script breaks this 2 1/2 hour long film into about eight different stories, ranging from smugglers to terrorists. It talks about how J. Edgar Hoover (who was a major consultant on this film), brought the bureau together. It shows how the FBI started as a one floor group in a small building and grew into what it is today (1959 to be exact). It explains the growing pains they went through regarding policies and procedures, that needed time to be accepted by the public. The film meticulously shows how they solved cases and caught hoodlums.

To round out Chip's fictitious family, he eventually has three children, with a very understanding wife, Lucy (Vera Miles), who stands by him and accepts the duty that Chip has to do. The film is pieced together rather nicely, as it unfolds, revealing the pain and stress, that he and his family go through, while Chip and his men build up victories. The most difficult moment being, when Lucy finds out that the agents can now carry guns. She isn't worried about Chip not being safe with a weapon, so much as, she is more worried about how dangerous the bad guys will be, now that they are backed against the wall at gun point. It is a moment that changes the whole game for her and the FBI. It made the danger even more frightening and real for her. It was a pivotal moment in the FBI's history. Veteran director, Mervyn LeRoy, creates a professionally styled film, with an interesting look at part of our history. James Stewart is great, as usual, giving his honest portrayal of an FBI agent. There actually are some scenes of action, that Stewart gets into. It was, kind of, a departure from what we have seen of Stewart to this point in his career. He even has to dredge through a South American jungle in search of a fellow agent. This film was a surprising, founded gem, when I finally saw it for the first time and if you trim about 15 minutes off of it, maybe it would have been even greater.

7.4 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.

This James Stewart movie is often overlooked and dismissed but it is actually quite good. The story is engaging, it has an appealing theme tune, and Vera Miles is absolutely beautiful. Often you see the flaws of movies the second or third time you watch them but this is not the case for this movie. I've watched this about 5 times and it still hasn't gotten old.

When I was a very young teen, I saw this in the theater and was just awed. The different segments were very dramatic and stayed with me for decades.

So after a long, long absence, seeing this again in the late '90s turned out to be a major disappointment. As a kid, this movie was exciting, but it sure isn't now. It's two-and-a-half hours long and moves pretty well but too much time is spent on the marriage of Jimmy Stewart-Vera Miles ("Chip and Lucy Ann Hardesty").

As one who watches a lot of modern- day crime movies, it was odd to see one with absolutely no profanity in it and very little blood, but that's because it's a 1959 film. We see the FBI cracking down on the KKK, anti- Native Americans, the Communists, spies, etc. Some of those parts are exciting, but nothing like when it came out almost 50 years ago. Now, it's almost ho-hum stuff.

For me now, this movie is more of a nostalgia piece than anything else. Frankly, I doubt if I would watch it again.

First, the only reason we viewed this, is because it was released the same year my wife was born. Hell of a criterion for selecting a movie, eh?:). By following this ridiculous rule, I score blue chips with Mama, so I'm all in. I'm 5 years older and she still can't keep up with her old man.

Stewart does a good job. I just feel he was miscast. If they gave most generation Xers a list of actors to play that part; I'm sure old Jimmy wouldn't have been anywhere near the top for most. Stewart's character seemed a bit obtuse at times throughout the movie, mostly due to the (often) sterile lines given him.

Vera is lookin good in this flick. I said, "Evelyn! Vera Miles was a doll back then." She didn't recognize her. So I showed her a pic of her from a Columbo episode (Lovely but Lethal), and she exclaimed "Holy Cow! She sure was pretty. Stayed that way too really."

I guess I should review the movie. The strong point is that you get a whole lot of cases, all solved in no time at all.

One easily offended weeping lib reviewer cried about the propaganda, insulting the crossdressing Hoover in the process. Sure, it was a tad bit hokey, but nevertheless a good bio on techniques and how the bureau progressed through the years. Certainly, it was a far superior bureau back then compared to the tyrannical bought & paid-for, left wing group of thugs they are today. But yes, this was made in conjunction with the bureau. Even so, it's 1959, and some of its oddity is merely campiness.

The (worry) stress of an agent's wife (Mikes) is a continuous theme throughout.

The funniest thing happened to us. First, we had no idea as to the duration of this movie. And so much had happened, by the time we came to the point where Stewart's (now teenage) daughter forgot her commencement speech lines and the Attack on Pearl Harbor was announced on the radio, we both simultaneously said things like, "Well that's it. Longish movie but not bad!" Then, for the first time, I paused it to look at the slider. I shouted "Holy SHITake Mushrooms! Another hour?!? You're kidding me!" Although laughing her arse off (at me), Evie was completely surprised as well.

We didn't want another hour, that's for sure. Holy cow! We stayed with it though. It became like a mini series with all the episodes spliced together.

Overall, it's kind of a docu-drama. At times, it plays like the old tv show Dragnet. Ive never heard of the director, but he sure could have used Peckinpah & Kubrick on the set.

All that said, I gave it a 6. Would've been a 7 if they hadn't ran raw celluloid supplies down to a critical level.

Thx.

Bob & Eve.

Pedantic, overlong fabrication which attempts to chronicle the birth of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Begins quite promisingly, with a still-relevant probe into an airplane explosion, however the melodrama involving James Stewart and wife Vera Miles just gets in the way (Miles had a habit of playing tepid wives under duress, and her frayed nerves arrive here right on schedule). Esteemed director Mervyn LeRoy helmed this adaptation of Don Whitehead's book, but despite the talent involved, the picture fails to make much of an impression. Best performance is turned in by Murray Hamilton as Stewart's partner, however most of the dialogue is ludicrous and the dogged pacing causes the movie to seem twice as long as it is. *1/2 from ****