This film is a hidden gem that I would almost rate above "the Godfather. It is a perfect example of the slew of paranoia films in the mid 70s. One of the reason's why you can't compare it to Coppola's masterpiece is of course that the scope is radically different. "The Conversation" is a very intimate, quiet but compelling and ultimately terrifying character study. They don't make 'em like that anymore. At least not in a mainstream film with a major actor, Gene Hackman, who has at the height of his game. To me this stands as an excellent example of form and content coming together to form a near flawless whole. Using this film for teaching two aspects that are very foregrounded is the use of cinematic space and sound. It unfolds, for a 21st century audience at least, at a slow pace but the fact that it is also a thriller helps the film along. It is not entirely an art film but also plot-driven. If you want to begin to understand what was great about American Cinema in the 70s, still post-Easy Rider this is a good starting point.

Released in 1974 and written/directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "The Conversation" is a potential crime drama starring Gene Hackman as a freelance surveillance technician in San Francisco whose team records a conversation by a man and woman (Cindy Williams & Frederic Forrest) as they walk through crowded Union Square. Using three different recordings of the event he expertly pieces together the conversation and tries to figure out its meaning. He fears that someone might be murdered over it, which haunts him from a past gig. Robert Duvall plays the client, a mogul of some sort, while Harrison Ford plays his dour assistant. Teri Garr has a small role.While the movie was released after Watergate, the story was written in the mid-60s and the movie was completed several months before the scandal broke out. It was sorta prescient in that it used the very same surveillance and wire-tapping equipment that members of the Nixon Administration used to spy on their opponents. This is a slow drama focused on the psychology of the privacy-obsessed protagonist and the meaning of a phrase on the recording, depending on which word is stressed. It's surprisingly engaging for being so uneventful (until the final act, that is). The way the revelations are depicted at the end show that this movie influenced others 25 years later, like 1999's "The Sixth Sense." But that film is more cogent with its revelations whereas "The Conversation" keeps everything somewhat ambiguous. Unfortunately, I didn't find Hackman's character interesting, like his characters in other films, e.g. 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure" and 1969's "Downhill Racer." Nor did I find his acting convincing when he would stutter. And, as expert of a surveillance technician he is, he's blatantly bumbling in numerous others. I guess he's a metaphor for America, which was a technically rich superpower, but utterly stoo-pid in many ways (e.g. the Vietnam fiasco).The film runs 113 minutes and was shot in San Francisco. GRADE: B-

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.

Wow! Despite being a classic movie, not many people have actually heard about this one, even though it gets brilliant reviews from just about anybody who's seen it. Noticing in the schedules that it was on in the middle of one night, I decided to set my VCR to record and see what Gene Hackman could do for me. I wasn't disappointed. Having seen ENEMY OF THE STATE when it first came out at the cinema, I was surprised at how alike the two films are and specifically the identical characters that Hackman plays in both - even down to the same deserted warehouse being used as a hideout. ENEMY OF THE STATE can be considered an unofficial sequel, and while it's a lot flashier, more exciting and more hi-tech, THE CONVERSATION is still the most gripping film of the two, a powerful and disturbing look into one man's psyche as he suffers a nervous breakdown from being overly paranoid.A different kind of horror is portrayed here: psychological horror. Hackman gives a superb performance, a subtle and moving study of a man haunted by paranoia. In the end it gets so that even his friends and associates can't be trusted. You can't really blame Hackman for getting so wound up, as he IS caught up in the middle of a conspiracy fronted by the sinister Harrison Ford. I hadn't realised that Ford was in any films before that little sci-fi picture but here he plays it coolly and coldly as a businessman who may be involved in murder. Robert Duvall gives a creepy cameo while other familiar faces pad out the cast - particularly noticeable the late John Cazale.Even though little actually happens during the film's course, and the running time is lengthy, it grips the interest all the way through. Hackman's obsession is to be his ultimate downfall and it's difficult to watch as his sanity begins to slip. Indeed, his systematic search of an empty apartment is heavy with suspense, even though there is nothing there. Hackman's final hallucination of a toilet overflowing with blood is potent horror image, simple yet effective. And, dare I say it, the film actually manages to be extremely frightening, especially in a key scene where he ventures out onto his balcony to see a bloody murder being committed next door.The film plays it ambiguously, never saying one way or the other as to whether the events are all in Hackman's head or really happening to him. The final image - of a destroyed Hackman sitting in his destroyed apartment, playing a saxophone - is a great way to end what is a superb little film. Wholeheartedly recommended.