History Film / JEdgar

** HilariousInHindsight: On Series/BoardwalkEmpire, Root would go on to play Gaston Bullock Means, the real-life con artist who inserted himself into the negotiations to retrieve Baby Lindburgh.

** Also, who else could have mothered a person as devious and secretive as Hoover if not [[JamesBond M]] herself?

** Also, who else could have mothered a person as devious and secretive as Hoover if not [[JudyDench M herself]]?

* HeyItsThatGuy: A {{Series/Justified}} twofer in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping plotline: Damon Herriman (Dewey) plays kidnapper Richard Hauptmann, while Stephen Root (Judge Reardon) is a "wood expert" who proves that Hauptmann built the ladder found at the scene of the crime.

* HeyItsThatGuy: A Series/Justified twofer in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping plotline: Damon Herriman (Dewey) plays kidnapper Richard Hauptmann, while Stephen Root (Judge Reardon) is a "wood expert" who proves that Hauptmann built the ladder found at the scene of the crime.

* HeyItsThatGuy: A twofer in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping plotline: Damon Herriman (Dewey) plays kidnapper Richard Hauptmann, while Stephen Root (Judge Reardon) is a "wood expert" who proves that Hauptmann built the ladder found at the scene of the crime.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler:As Tolson calls Hoover out on having embellished and glorified his own involvements in the cases he has told the writers about, we get to see how some of events actually played out]].

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Hoover often states one must bend the rules to save a country.

* BombThrowingAnarchists: The 1919 bombers were this, although Hoover inaccurately refers to them as "Bolsheviks."

* PrecisionFStrike: Nixon really wants those fucking files.

-->'''J. Edgar:''' Helen...do I kill everything I love?

* WashingtonDC: Where 90% of the film takes place.

* ForegoneConclusion: Most of the principle characters die or are elderly at the end. Also, the viewer is pretty sure none of the Presidents managed to actually shut down the Bureau.

* NobodyOver50IsGay: Hoover and Tolson follow their routine together (work, dinner, horse races) and live together well into their old age.

* HeyItsThatGuy: A {{Series/Justified}} twofer in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping plotline: Damon Herriman (Dewey) plays kidnapper Richard Hauptmann, while Stephen Root (Judge Reardon) is a "wood expert" who proves that Hauptmann built the ladder found at the scene of the crime.

* MyBelovedSmother: Anna Hoover, BIG TIME.
* NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters: Discussed by Hoover as many films during the 1920s came out that glamorized the gangster lifestyle that he did not approve of.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Hoover and Gandy, apparently.

* Hoover [[PetTheDog Pets the Dog]] and [[KickTheDog Kicks the Dog]] simultaneously when, over breakfast, he helps Tolson, who has recently suffered a stroke, peel a boiled egg...while berating him for failing to speak clearly. Did I mention he had a stroke?

* ForegoneConclusion: Most of the principle characters die or are elderly at the end] Also, the viewer is pretty sure none of the Presidents managed to actually shut down the Bureau.

* FBIAgent: Natch
* ForegoneConclusion: It is a biopic! [[spoiler:Most of the principle characters die or are elderly at the end.]] Also, the viewer is pretty sure none of the Presidents managed to actually shut down the Bureau.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: I certainly know someone that agrees with the second part; the CIA is never mentioned however.

* {{Chiaroscuro}}: Eastwood uses this style to visualize the shadowy world of secrets and lies that Hoover inhabits. Unusually, critics (at least according to the RottenTomatoes consensus) dismissed this as simply "bad lighting", despite the fact that Eastwood has been known to use this style for many of his films, notably ''MillionDollarBaby''.

* BuryYourGays: An in-universe example: Hoover's mother tells her son about a boy who lived in their neighborhood who shot himself a few weeks after being publicly humiliated at school for wearing a skirt. Everyone else had nicknamed him "Daffy", as in "[[UnusualEuphemism daffodil]]." She goes on to say that she would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son.

* BuryYourGays: An in-universe example: Hoover's mother tells her son about a boy who lived in their neighborhood who shot himself a few weeks after being publicly humiliated at school for wearing a skirt. Everyone else had nicknamed him "Daffy", as in [[UnusualEuphemism "daffodil"]]. She goes on to say thatmshe would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son.

* BuryYourGays: An in-universe example: Hoover's mother tells her son about a boy who lived in their neighbourhood who shot himself a few weeks after being publicly humiliated at school for wearing a skirt. Everyone else had nicknamed him "Daffy", as in [[UnusualEuphemism "daffodil"]]. She goes on to say that [[MoralEventHorizon she would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son.]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: Big time.

{{Biopic}} directed by ClintEastwood and starring mainly LeonardoDiCaprio but with a bunch of other big names in supporting roles, it is an in-universe fictionalized biography of the first and most infamous director of the FBI, John Edgar Hoover. Told in a memoir-style narration, the narrative hops backwards and forwards in time from Hoover's time as a minor lawyer in the Department of Justice to the end of his life. It addresses such topics as the growth of power and influence of the FBI, the use and abuse of power, and the assorted scandals and rumors surrounding Hoover's life. The film was released in 2011, where it initially received lukewarm critical reviews.

!!This movie provides examples of:

* HeyItsThatGuy: A [[Series/Justified]] twofer in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping plotline: Damon Herriman (Dewey) plays kidnapper Richard Hauptmann, while Stephen Root (Judge Reardon) is a "wood expert" who proves that Hauptmann built the ladder found at the scene of the crime.

** RogerEbert suspects this is how Hoover and Tolsen decided their relationship should be, because "not being gay" offered greater rewards.

* BuryYourGays: An in-universe example: Hoover's mother tells her son about a boy who lived in their neighbourhood who shot himself a few weeks after being publicly humiliated at school for wearing a skirt. Everyone else had nicknamed him "Daffy", as in [[UnusualEuphemism "daffodil"]]. She goes on to say that [[MoralEventHorizon she would rather have a dead son than have him be a "daffodil".]]
* TheCameo: Lea Thompson as Ginger Roger's mother.

* NobodyOver50IsGay: Hoover and Tolson follow their routine together (work, dinner, horse races) and live togeteher well into their old age.

--->'''J.Edgar''' Helen...do I kill everything I love?

* SharpDressedMan: J Edgar and Tolson obsess about other agents fashion choices and are generally conservativly, but very well dressed themselves.