The Conversation (1974)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writer:

Francis Ford Coppola (written by)

Release Date:

1974 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Harry Caul is an invader of privacy. The best in the business. He can record any conversation between two people anywhere. So far, three people are dead because of him.

Plot:

A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered. |

Plot Keywords:

Surveillance | Hotel Room | Neo Noir | Paranoia | Sound

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Harry Caul
John Cazale	...	Stan
Allen Garfield	...	William P. 'Bernie' Moran
Frederic Forrest	...	Mark
Cindy Williams	...	Ann
Michael Higgins	...	Paul
Elizabeth MacRae	...	Meredith
Teri Garr	...	Amy Fredericks
Harrison Ford	...	Martin Stett
Mark Wheeler	...	Receptionist
Robert Shields	...	The Mime
Phoebe Alexander	...	Lurleen

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital (restored version)

Certification:

Spain:18 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | Norway:16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (re-rating) (2002) | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Alamo Square, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

American Zoetrope

Trivia:

Cameo: ['Robert Duvall (I)']the director who hires Harry Caul.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Harry Caul is in the elevator, you see the woman come in and three buttons are pushed. After stopping on a floor, a cut back to the shot of the woman and only one button remains lit whereas two should still be lit.

Quotes:

Martin Stett: [Final Line] We'll be listening to you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mad About You: The Conversation (#6.9)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Sophisticated Lady

Everyone's Talking at Me.....I Think I Hear Every Word They Say.

Enigmatic, frustrating, confusing, intelligent and overall extremely brilliant work by writer/director Francis Ford Coppola (Oscar-nominated for his screenplay) has surveillance expert Gene Hackman recording a conversation between Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest. It immediately appears that the duo are having an affair behind Williams' very wealthy husband's (a cameo by Robert Duvall) back. However nothing is quite as cut and dry as it seems. Hackman, a devout Catholic, has a bout of conscience as he worries that Duvall might have deviant plans for his wife and her apparent lover. Apparently Hackman's work had meant the lives of some he had spied on many years earlier in New York and he is shown as a quiet man who has some loud personal demons within his soul. The suspense builds when Hackman is followed by Duvall's shady employee (Harrison Ford) and eventually the heat rises to a boil as all the very loose ends are tied together in a wickedly twisted final act. "The Conversation" was Coppola's other film from 1974 (remember Best Picture Oscar winner "The Godfather, Part II"?). With this movie, Coppola created arguably the two best films of that dominant cinematic campaign (of course Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" would have something to say about that). Hackman delivers a deceptively difficult and dark performance as a man who seems to be self-destructing slowly on the inside out. By the end "The Conversation" is a thought-provoking product that will chill you to the bone with its cold elements. 5 stars out of 5.