The FBI Story
1959 · Movie · NR · 149 min · ★ 6.1 · 65% critics
A veteran federal agent looks back on the bureau’s early decades, tracing how it grew from a small operation into a national force. Through a series of cases—ranging from extremist groups and gangsters to wartime threats and espionage—the story also shows the personal strain that a life of constant assignments can place on a family.
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Details
- Years
- 1959
- Release date
- 1959-10-01
- Language
- English
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 149 min
- Critic score
- 65/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.1/10 (43 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a long, old-school crime history told in vignettes, mixing investigations with home-front drama; Not for you if you dislike propaganda-tinged stories or slow stretches, like in Al Capone.
Pros: case-by-case variety; nostalgic period feel; earnest lead performance | Cons: episodic and disjointed; overlong running time; heavy-handed pro-FBI tone
Themes
- fbi
- historical figure
- dillinger
Cast & crew
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
Parley Baer
as Harry Dakins
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy