The Kansas City Massacre, the hunt for Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly's kidnapping scheme, all very important in the history of the FBI. The formative years and events that shaped it to what it is today... and they all go pretty much ignored by this film.
Was this because Public Enemies covered these events (and was a much better film)?
The Kansas City Massacre gets all of about five seconds of screen time. Melvin Purvis gets mentioned twice.
Didn't some of those guys associate with the Mafia? That could have been one reason JEH glossed over that in his bio, and that's where most of the story comes from. I'm talking about the movie and how JEH wants himself and the Bureau portrayed in his bio.
"Pay no attention to the man in the trunk."
The Kansas City Massacre, the hunt for Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly's kidnapping scheme, all very important in the history of the FBI. The formative years and events that shaped it to what it is today... and they all go pretty much ignored by this film.Because this film isn't about the FBI. It's about J Edgar Hoover.
But Hoover's identity and the FBI were inextricably linked, and he had no problem taking credit for what other agents did when one of those guys was killed or captured.
"Pay no attention to the man in the trunk."
But Hoover's identity and the FBI were inextricably linked, and he had no problem taking credit for what other agents did when one of those guys was killed or captured.All of which the film shows but it's implied that all of this is Edgar's way of compensating for being unable to express his feelings.