The Man Who Would Be Queen?

October 25, 2011 7:37 AM

J. Edgar Hoover once famously remarked: "Justice is incidental to law and order." But it's not concerns about its portrayal of the notoriously Machiavellian FBI chief's views on the insignificance of actual justice in the broader scheme of law enforcement that's got some former FBI agents up in arms over the forthcoming new film, J. Edgar. It's not even the film's depictions of Hoover using his position at the head of the agency to gather secret files he used to blackmail sitting presidents and other political opponents that's controversial. No, where the film really threatens to cross the line and portray Hoover in an unflatteringly negative light, according to some, is in daring to depict the notoriously power-hungry Hoover as a closeted homosexual. Never mind that, according to director Clint Eastwood and star Leonardo DiCaprio, it actually doesn't.
posted by saulgoodman (11 comments total)

That's interesting, because most of the criticism I'd heard about the film so far is that it doesn't go into Hoover's gayness enough.
posted by auto-correct at 7:43 AM on October 25, 2011

I've read somewhere, and I can't remember where I'd read this, that the rumors of Hoover cross-dressing had actually sprung from the rumors that he was gay, i.e. people heard that Hoover was gay and then immediately assumed that he wore dresses, because that's what many straight people thought gay people did.

Considering how mixed the reports are of Hoover's personal life, though, I couldn't tell you how credible that is.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:46 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Previously
posted by DU at 7:47 AM on October 25, 2011

"When you are somebody like Mr. Hoover, I guess you need somebody to talk to."

Among other things.
posted by blucevalo at 7:48 AM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oops. Don't know why that didn't show up when I searched. Self-flagging as an apparent double.
posted by saulgoodman at 7:53 AM on October 25, 2011

Guess I'll get to save "The Man Who Would Be Queen" for another day...
posted by saulgoodman at 7:54 AM on October 25, 2011

If you want to read a great book about working at the Bureau during the Hoover years, check out No Left Turns by Joe Schott. It's out of print, but worth finding just for the hilarity.

Hoover was basically nuts, but everyone was scared shitless of him. He once annotated a memo with the cryptic message "watch the borders", which prompted an immediate dispatch of agents to the Canadian border to do...something. No one was really sure what. The Prune said to watch the borders, so off they went. Some time passed before it was discovered that he was referring to the line justification on the memo and not, you know, the actual borders.
posted by jquinby at 7:56 AM on October 25, 2011 [9 favorites]

Guess I'll get to save "The Man Who Would Be Queen" for another day...

The day when someone posts a video of a guy imitating Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Tailor all at once, I suppose.
posted by Bromius at 7:57 AM on October 25, 2011

heh.
posted by saulgoodman at 7:58 AM on October 25, 2011

I love the scene in the movie "Bananas" (I think, but could be a different early Woody Allen movie) where a large black woman takes the stand in court and says that her name is J. Edgar Hoover and she's in disguise.
posted by knoyers at 8:03 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't know- I thought a recent stage portrayal of J. Edgar presented this issue in a totally respectful manner
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:23 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]