The Conversation-1974

The Conversation-1974

Director Frances Ford Coppola

Starring Gene Hackman

Top 100 Films #5

Scott’s Review #83

60003586

Reviewed July 1, 2014

Grade: A

The Conversation (1974) is one of my favorite films. It is a thinking man’s psychological thriller that is pure genius.

Had The Godfather (1972) not been the success that it was, this film would never have been made.

It is a very personal story crafted by Francis Ford Coppola.

The film stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert, who is a technical genius, but social misfit Harry Caul, a cynical man suspicious of everybody.

He is paranoid.

He is hired by a mysterious ‘Director’ to tap a young couple’s conversations and submit the recordings to the Director’s assistant played by a very young Harrison Ford (his first film).

Harry is also obsessed with his privacy chastising his landlord for sending flowers to his apartment. His latest assignment becomes an obsession for him as he begins a downward spiral of paranoia concerning a young couple he feels is in danger.

For the viewer and the character of Harry Caul, we feel we have everything figured out but do we? Is the couple in danger? Who are they?

Many aspects of the film are fuzzy and unclear which is the genius of it and makes the viewer think. The atmosphere is repetitive and tense. The endless sound loops and the surveillance in the park are highly effective.

The creepy hotel scene towards the climax of the film is my favorite in its bizarre nature.

Each time I view The Conversation (1974) I see something different or try to dissect it in a new way. That to me is film-making at its greatest.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound

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