Hoover on AllMovie

Ernest Borgnine stars in this one-man show as J. Edgar Hoover, the notorious former head of the F.B.I., who discusses his long and storied career on camera as he relives his triumphs and attempts to explain his career failings. Hoover discusses his battles against Communists, gangsters (especially John Dillinger), radical leftists, neo-fascists, and extremists of all political stripes, while also weighing in on latter-day allegations about the legalities of his working methods (especially his use of wiretaps) and his sexual preferences. The film also features Cartha D. "Deke" Deloach", onetime deputy director of the F.B.I., who worked with Hoover for 17 years and offers his own recollections of the man he considered both his friend and a great lawman. Hoover was shot in 1997, but wasn't shown theatrically until 2000, when it played a limited engagement in Los Angeles in order to quality for that year's Academy awards.