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The FBI Story

The FBI Story

Drama · Crime · 1959

A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.

Movie details

The FBI Story

“You are crouched in a basement stairway opposite a theatre in Chicago. Keep your eyes on that FBI man across the street. He has set the trap for deadly public enemy, John Dillinger...”

1959 Drama · Crime 2h 29m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.5 / 10

4K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

60 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The FBI Story?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Richard Jewell

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Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.

The Mask of Dimitrios

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mervyn LeRoy

Written by

Richard L. Breen · John Twist

James Stewart

James Stewart

John Michael ('Chip') Hardesty

Vera Miles

Vera Miles

Lucy Ann Hardesty

Murray Hamilton

Murray Hamilton

Sam Crandall

Larry Pennell

Larry Pennell

George Crandall

Nick Adams

Nick Adams

John Gilbert ('Jack') Graham

Diane Jergens

Diane Jergens

Jennie Hardesty

Jean Willes

Jean Willes

Anna Sage

Court is in session

Put The FBI Story on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.