By Eugenia Chien Fri, July 25, 2008, 12:01 am PDT

Agents Mulder and Scully in The X-Files: I Want to Believe Hollywood has always been fascinated by the FBI, which celebrates its 100th birthday today. In honor of the good G-men and G-women, let's take a look through the Yahoo! Directory movie categories for movies featuring this most-wanted agency. One of the earliest portrayals of the FBI was in the 1935 film "G-Men," starring James Cagney. Cagney had spent the first four years of his career as a tough guy and a public enemy, so when he was cast as a young federal agent (who was put through school by a mobster), the screen image of FBI agents became as hard-boiled as that of the gangsters they fought. The film portrayed federal agents as such heroes that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover actually wanted to start a movie studio within the Bureau itself! Hoover's foray into the film industry never took off, but the agency continued to be a mainstay on celluloid in such films as "The FBI Story" (with James Stewart as an agent who managed to work on every major case the Bureau took on), "Mississippi Burning," "Catch Me If You Can," and "Donnie Brasco" -- not to mention the long-running TV series, "The FBI." But along with being tough, strong, and stoic, on-screen FBI agents stayed mostly male. That all soon changed when films like "Silence of the Lambs," and "Breach" featured hard-boiled yet glamorous female agents. And how can we forget the great X-Files, which, coincidentally, also opens today on the big screen. Ah, the X-Files! The television series-turned-movie that brought us perhaps the most well-known and well-loved federal agents, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. With their unresolved sexual tension clouding over every alien chase, Mulder and Scully have given the agency a sexy new image and inspired legions of die-hard X-Files fans, many of whom have longed to participate in more personal investigations. Suggested Sites... The FBI Academy - see what it takes to become an FBI agent. FBI at 100: From Al Capone to al Qaeda - CNN explores the history of the agency. Ali G. FBI Interview - Ali G. tests the patience of the Feds. The X Files Ultimate - super fan site.

Directory categories: The FBI, FBI Most Wanted Lists, Spy Movies, X Files, Alien Abductions

Archived under: American History, Anniversaries, FBI, Government, Movies, TV

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