Product Description

American movie icon James Stewart portrays one of J. Edgar Hoover's finest and Vera Miles co-stars as his steadfast wife in this salute to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The colorful career of Agent Chip Hardesty (Stewart) covers 1924 to the late '50s. Along the way he tangles with everything from the Ku Klux Klan to a bomber who commits mass murder for insurance money. His fiercest exploits come in the '30s when he stares down a gun barrel at Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Ma Barker and John Dillinger. From two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Don Whitehead's bestseller and directed by veteran Hollywood hitmaker Mervyn LeRoy, The FBI Story is your rat-a-tat ticket to the inside story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17650 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-08-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 149 minutes

Amazon.com
Approved by J. Edgar Hoover himself, this idealized telling of the FBI's origins spans the years between Hoover's appointment in the '20s and the Red Scare of the mid-'50s. Beginning with an investigation that showcases the talent and resources available to the FBI, dedicated agent Chip Hardesty (Jimmy Stewart) tells new recruits how the agency was streamlined into a professional crime-fighting organization. Using his personal life story as a backdrop, Hardesty takes the new men (and the viewer) through cases involving gangsters, land grabs, and Communist spies. Vera Miles plays Hardesty's dedicated wife, while Murray Hamilton helps out as gung-ho fellow agent Sam Crandall. Lots of pro-Hoover PR and propaganda, but it never gets in the way of the action or family drama. Interestingly, the history of the Hardesty family is almost as good as the history of the agency. --Mark Savary

Customer Reviews

The movie that made me a Stewart fan!
I saw this movie when I was eight and into cop stories. This movie really got me interested into Jimmy Stewart and into a classic movie fan. (Stewart was born only 25 minutes from my home.) This is a great adventure flick with lots of action as well as some heart and humor to it. Vera Miles plays Stewart's often distraught wife about his job with the FBI. This film is a must for any Stewart/action movie fan!

Fun Movie with Great Acting
Unlike the reviewer below who used this space to espouse his political views and whine about the FBI's behavior in real life, I'll talk about the actual movie. This is a good, fun movie that is very black and white in its storytelling. Much like Dragnet and shows of that ilk, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad in this. The fact that the FBI isn't like that in real life doesn't make this a bad movie. It was designed as a puff piece on the FBI, so naturally it's biased towards them. However, using Hardesty's family to showcase the changing FBI is a great storytelling device and Jimmy Stewart really brings this to life. It takes what could be bland and makes it an interesting and fun vehicle. We all know things aren't as simple and easy as things are portrayed in this movie, but this is an enjoyable good guys versus bad guys escapist drama.

Great Movie
This is one of my favorite old movies that has not been released on DVD. This is a great story with great actors. It is hard to believe that with all the junk being released on DVD that a great movie like this is still not yet available. Come on guys wake up and release this movie on DVD. I will be first in line to buy it.