"Tour de Force"
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What You Need To Know:
Ernest Borgnine’s performance is so powerful it covers a multitude of defects in the script and the stage. Very few actors could captivate an audience so thoroughly in such a limited set. The script ignores pertinent facts that would bolster its case and expands upon some instances which, though well known, are not authoritatively proven. These defects cannot diminish the truth, and the truth is won with Borgnine’s presentation. There’s one obscenity in the movie; otherwise, it’s clean and virtuous. Borgnine deserves an Oscar for this role, although it seems highly doubtful that he will be considered for one. This movie should be shown in every school in the country
Content:
(CC, BBB, L) Christian worldview with moral elements; and, 1 minor obscenity.
More Detail:
Ernest Borgnine won an Oscar in 1956 for his incredible performance in the movie MARTY. Now, he’s being presented for Academy consideration in another incredible performance, in the one-man feature film, HOOVER. Borgnine’s command of the role as J. Edgar Hoover on a simple stage is so powerful that it sustains the entire feature film.
Unlike MARTY, however, HOOVER is a highly controversial movie, both in terms of style and subject matter. In later years, J. Edgar Hoover, who was once loved by the American people for creating the FBI and bringing crime under control, was reviled for his anti-communism, his authoritarianism and his militancy, and he was maliciously attacked by rumor and innuendo.
This incredible one-man tour de force addresses all of the controversy directly and does so with such power that, when it was screened at Yale University, the students stood up and cheered even though they disagreed with its politics. The New York Times even retracted false allegations against Hoover when confronted by the truth of this movie.
Hoover commands the center of the stage at the beginning of the movie and dismisses the current tabloid culture. Like a brilliant barrister, he addresses directly the allegations of his hidden sexual perversion and shows that those allegations are so baseless that the Times printed a retraction based on this argument.
He then goes on to address his role in creating the FBI which previously existed under another name as an agency riddled with corruption. His commitment to biblical values brought discipline and greatness to the FBI. He rid the country of hardened criminals such as John Dillinger and “Babyface” Nelson. He protected the country against communism. He suppressed the KKK and prevented Nazi spies from sabotaging America during World War II. His strength of character based on biblical principles infused the FBI with character.
HOOVER addresses each one of the controversies surrounding Hoover, including his debates with Bobby Kennedy and Richard Nixon, both of whom wanted to use the FBI for their own political purposes. Hoover refused to allow the agency to become compromised.
Ernest Borgnine’s performance covers a multitude of defects in the script and the stage. Very few actors could captivate an audience so thoroughly in such a limited set. The script ignores pertinent facts that would bolster its case and expands upon some instances which, though well known, are not authoritatively proven.
These defects cannot diminish the truth, and the truth is won with Borgnine’s presentation. There’s one obscenity in the movie; otherwise, it’s clean and virtuous.
This movie should be shown in every school in the country and will reinstate Hoover’s reputation far and wide. It should be noted that at several points within the movie, one of J. Edgar’s partners in the FBI, played by Cartha D. Deloch, gives some corroborating testimony. Although this testimony builds the movie’s case, it is not as powerful as Borgnine’s performance. Borgnine deserves an Oscar for this role, although it seems highly doubtful that he will be considered for one.
