Watching the FBI’s awkward attempt at a hit piece

If you enjoy watching history get flattened by a steamroller of pure bias, you’ll find this fascinating. It’s definitely not for anyone looking for a nuanced crime drama or a fair shake of the facts. If you prefer your documentaries to actually, you know, document things instead of just yelling "we’re the good guys" at the screen, skip this one.

The whole thing feels like the government sweating through its suit. Hoover was clearly panicked that the public saw the FBI as a bunch of back-shooting cowards. So, they commissioned this little reel to rewrite the narrative in real-time.

It’s all about the tone

The narration is so stiff it’s almost funny. It tries to paint the agents as these noble, shining knights of justice, but the footage just shows guys standing around looking uncomfortable. It’s not quite as charmingly dated as Believe It or Not (Second Series) #11, but it shares that same desperate energy of needing to be taken seriously at all costs.

You can almost hear the producers whispering, "Make sure you mention he was a public enemy!" every ten seconds. It’s like they were terrified that if they didn't repeat the label enough, we might accidentally start liking the guy who robbed the banks.

• The narrator’s voice sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can.
• The way they try to frame the theater shooting as a tactical masterclass is laughable.
• I kept waiting for a punchline that never arrived.

There’s this weird, disjointed quality to the editing. It jumps from stern warnings to grainy shots of buildings that look nothing like the actual crime scene. It reminds me of the pacing in Spook Spoofing, but without the benefit of being an actual comedy. It’s just grim, bureaucratic posturing.

Is it worth watching? Only if you’re a total nerd for the history of media manipulation. It’s a relic of a time when the government thought they could just tell people what to think and everyone would nod along. Watching it now, it feels less like a historical record and more like an embarrassing paper trail that someone forgot to shred. 🎞️

It lacks the heart of a real story. It’s just cold, wet ink on a page, trying to pass itself off as an epic. Stick to better stuff, honestly.