The Conversation (1974)

A mystery thriller with a moral dilemma at its centre. The film has good use of subtext: an obsession with privacy; striving to know everything in a way that impedes participation of others. It's a film very resonant today with all the advancement in surveillance technology. The sound design has big impact on the mood of the film. The screenplay puts the one who bugs others at the centre of the story and this creates tension throughout. Hackman's performance is a career best - his social awkwardness is superbly played.

Well-known as one of Gene Hackman's best roles. I don't know if I completely agree with that, but it IS pretty good acting work. The film is partly psychological character study, part suspense. Elizabeth MacRae, Harrison Ford, and Teri Garr do nice work in small roles. Films like this, which focus on technology, often do not age well, and that's the case with this one. While it is interesting to see how surveillance was done in the early Seventies, it only brings home how much easier and quicker these things can be done with computers. It seemed to me that one of the themes was the shocking (for the times) lack of privacy that everyone had, but of course that is nothing compared to now.

Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece "The Conversation" is a mood and plot driven story centered on Gene Hackman's character who believes there's more at steak than how it seems while recording a couple's conversation. Not only is it impressive considering the care and consideration directed towards "The Conversation," but it's miraculous how Coppola crafted such an air shut tight script while still working on the famous Godfather films. One of the biggest strengths for "The Conversation" is its brilliant dialogue and story structure. The film treats its audience like intelligent viewers by spreading the mystery and intrigue throughout the picture. Each scene providing new information and additional character depth that help create this compelling feeling to watch and see how it turns out. The movie is wonderfully paced and edited together and while the rhythm of the cuts help the story with speed, the film wouldn't be as effective without the remarkable sound design and mixing. Gene Hackman gives an incredible performance as an introverted and paranoid surveillance technician with his own internal demons. Little does the audience know his internal struggles are a core, underlying theme of the film during the first viewing. His character has so much depth and mystery it's easy to forgive the film for the lack of depth on other characters. While it may seem like a negative, it does help the focus on Hackman's character so we're always trying to guess what he's thinking.This film deserves more than one viewing. The audience will pick up on additional plot points that build the story's cohesiveness and realize visual symbolism and motifs regarding major themes of the film like order and chaos, loneliness, love, paranoia, and privacy. All common themes associated with the human experience. This is a Coppola film that shouldn't be lost through the cracks between "The Godfather." It's very well made and riveting from start to finish.

Every once in awhile, a film eludes one for so long that you finally make the concentrated effort to see it. The Conversation is a film that has been on my watchlist for years, yet for some reason, I had never seen it until now. I had neglected The Conversation so much, that I had forgotten that it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The 1974 film was made the same year as The Godfather Part II, the film many believe to be Coppola's crowning achievement. After watching Gene Hackman as an intensely paranoid surveillance professional who breaks his cardinal rule of becoming too invested in his work. A perfect slow burn of a film, intensely exploring how the guilt one man feels has changed his life forever.In San Francisco, Henry Caul (Gene Hackman) is the preeminent professional in electronic surveillance. Henry owns his own company and builds his own devices, making him highly sought after for various surveillance needs. Henry takes his work incredibly seriously and has a stern rule not to get involved in his work, and to never ask questions of his clients. All Henry is supposed to do is record conversations, turn in the tapes, and go on with his life. This lesson is one he is trying to instill in his business partner Stan (John Cazale), who constantly asks too many questions and becomes far too interested in the clients he is taping. Due to Henry's insistence on neutrality, Stan often feels out of the loop in regards to what is going on with various aspects of the business. Henry is so invested in privacy, that he is unable to carry on relationships with anyone, as it would require letting someone occupy his personal space. Henry also only calls his clients from payphones, never allows anyone into his apartment, all in an attempt to control his surroundings and his life. When a client employs Henry and Stan to record the conversations of a couple, Henry takes the job, but somehow abandons his sensibilities to keep himself removed from his clients, creating a conflict of conscience when he believes that the couple he is surveilling will be murdered. This is Gene Hackman's best role, I make this claim with complete certainty that I have never seen him better. It wrecked my day to learn that Hackman wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award for this role. I am just as certain that Hackman's Academy Award win for The French Connection was premature, and he was much more deserving of the award for The Conversation. The character development in The Conversation was some of the best I have ever seen. The direction in The Conversation was excellent, with top-notch storytelling that one has expected from Coppola. Francis Ford Coppola made some of the most brilliant directorial decisions that the film completely necessitates. There were several shots with Hackman out of frame, which were brilliant illustrations of the isolation of Hackman in his daily life. The shot of Hackman trying to redeem himself in the confessional that tracks into a focus of the priest through the screen was incredible. One of my favorite things about this film was the amazing use of diegetic sound. Given that Henry, for a living, intrudes on the lives of others through many devices, hearing so many of the noises from the devices on screen was a brilliant decision. There are so many intensely brilliant decisions, a fantastic screenplay, and fantastic directing cementing The Conversation firmly as the classic it has become.