For years now, I’ve passed by the spot where they found Lindbergh’s baby. It’s on the way from my house in Summit, N.J. to Philadelphia where my dad lives. I always imagined what it was like when J. Edgar Hoover nailed Bruno Hauptmann for that dastardly crime. I always tried to figure out how Hoover could go from this legendary law enforcement agent, someone who made you want to be a G-man, to the despicable Hoover I knew when I grew up. Then I went to see “J. Edgar.” Puzzle solved: According to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, Edgar was a rat almost from the start to finish. I can’t tell you the last time I learned anything at the movies, other than from a documentary. But with “J. Edgar,” not only did I learn what a law enforcement fraud this joker was, I got a real window into his duplicitous, treasonous, pathetic self, and was entertained every minute along the way.
“J. Edgar” is an astonishing movie. It’s a tale about perhaps the most important bureaucrat in the history of this country, yet one almost no one knew anything about. Now we know the truth. And I want more. I want another 10 hours of this movie. I want the outtakes. From now on, when I go by that Lindbergh baby spot, I will think of the plot of the real story and marvel that, until now, we actually thought J. Edgar Hoover was ever any good at all.
"— Jim Cramer on “J. Edgar” Screenplay by Dustin Lance Black
Variety in Focus - Writers on Writers 2011/2012
Jim Cramer is the author of “Getting Back to Even,” “Confessions of a Street Addict” and other finance tomes.
(Source: variety.com)
