The Conversation | Gene Hackman, John Cazale

The Conversation | Gene Hackman, John Cazale | The Conversation (1974)

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The Conversation

	The Conversation Gene Hackman, John Cazale Paramount, 2000 average customer review:based on 121 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A wiretapper's nightmare

Francis Ford Coppola's masterful insight into the clandestine world of surveillance "The Conversation" was appropriately released at the time of the Watergate scandal. The venerable Gene Hackman taciturnly plays Harry Caul an intensely private world renowned surveillance expert who lives in a world sheltered from personal interactions.

Hackman is hired to record a conversation between a young couple walking through a park by a man known as the Director, played in a cameo by Robert Duvall. He ingeniously orchestrates a scheme using a four man team to record the dialogue between Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest playing the couple. While analyzing the tapes he realizes that the couple may be getting set up for execution. In his past a previous surveillance job of Hackman's resulted in the murder of three people.

Hackman suddenly comes to grips with his conscience and has misgivings about relinquishing the tapes to the Director's assistant Martin Stett played by a very youthful Harrison Ford. Hackman is set up and the tapes are stolen from him. Determined to short circuit the possible execution he sets himself up in a hotel room adjoining a room mentioned in the recorded conversation. Using a listening device he hears a violent crime being committed but not the one he expected.

Back in the safety of his supposedly bug proof apartment, Hackman gets a phone call from Ford threatening him to forget what happened. Hackman is also made aware that his fortress of solitude apartment has been wiretapped, his worst possible hellish nightmare.

As the film concludes we see Hackman sitting is his apartment which in a paranoid frenzy he has totally torn apart in search of the planted surveillance equipment.

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The Conversation (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Elizabeth MacRae, Michael Higgins, Teri Garr, Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall.
Running Time: 113 minutes
Rated R for language and a scene of violence.

He's supposed to be the leading authority in freelance surveillance, but from the start there are hints that while he's good, he's also careless. While his apartment is locked, his landlord leaves him a Happy Birthday present. His mistress, Amy (Teri Garr in a small role) tells him she saw him standing in the staircase for an entire hour. He invites a rival co-worker to his office (which seems to be a warehouse) with several other people and carelessly allows the man to record his own conversation by means of what looks to be an innocuous pen, which wouldn't be out of place in any James Bond movie. And his liaison with a call girl he meets at that party results in her stealing the tapes of a conversation he has recorded and that has lately been the focus of his obsession. This is Harry Caul (played brilliantly by Gene Hackman), a loner who is a little too glum to be good company and takes his work seriously, perhaps too seriously, which eventually proves to be his downfall. The fact that his own co-worker Stan (John Cazale) leaves him to go work for a rival agency, only serves to prove Harry is really someone who is so much a loner he drives anyone away from him. He can't seem to have any form of relationship -- it's only time when Amy will also leave him as she seems somewhat frustrated by this wall of privacy he's built around himself. His entire life revolves around secrecy, and he only is able to live vicariously throughout others, even if he himself feels guilty about it and would deny it because to top it all, he has a strong religious streak, and discloses under confession that he was witness of a surveillance gone wrong and which resulted in the deaths of three people. Now this assignment from The Director (in a cameo by Robert Duvall) has him worried: he's listened to a conversation between a man and a woman and is afraid the woman's husband may try to kill them both.

As Harry slowly drags himself into the precarious business of strangers, the film's intentions become increasingly suspenseful and perplexing. Director Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather" films) maintains his deliberately methodical pace throughout the entire film; it is only through our imagination that we are capable of creating and perpetuating such a consistently fascinating atmosphere surrounded by a cloud of tension and mystique. The Assistant Director (a young Harrison Ford) never physically carries himself as an intimidating antagonist; it is through the complexity of the film's plot and through the continual uncertain environment that we are able to associate this element with his character. Every person that carries himself in a convincingly dubious manner immediately becomes a potential suspect. Harry becomes compulsively obsessed with the fate of his client's targets, completely submerging himself into the substance of the recordings, looking for any potential details that might assist him in solving the mystery. Harry's investigation quickly becomes our task as well, as we begin to subconsciously observe and scrutinize each character involved. The beauty of Coppola's film is the fact that it makes its point by using the audience as proof of the inherent devious nature of privacy. The movie transports us into Harry's world, as we become infatuated with the secretive plot unfolding before us, and we desperately search for clues into the lives of the film's characters. Of course, after intense investigation, Harry ultimately comes to realize that he has violated all of the principles that he had once stood proudly for. Whether or not Harry ended up better off by becoming involved in the dealings of others is a completely subjective matter, but it is a crucial question that the viewer must ask him/herself. This film, certainly one of Coppola's greatest of his illustrious career, is one of mystery and paranoia. The great performances of Hackman and Ford make this stand out, and the mystery that surrounds the plot creates suspense that keeps the audience focused and interested throughout. In general, this is one of the best mystery and suspense thrillers of the decade.

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Fabulous Francis Ford Coppola. A Masterpiece.

For all the praise Coppola garnered with "The Godfather", his work on "The Conversation", though not as romantic as his mobster classic, is even more deserved of his directorial genius. Coppola presents maximum mood and feel with minimal, even seemingly irrelevant dialogue at first listen, unless of course you know Coppola and realize every ounce of dialogue has significant meaning in the end. One will see this in the work of his daughter, Sofia, in the future ("Lost In Translation"). The timing of this movie's content and it's relevancy to Watergate is no coincidence, but its impact is temendous. Not only does the content of every second of this movie make one realize the extent of the possiblities and ramifications of Watergate (when this movie was released), but of everyday life, and how easily one's personal privacy can be invaded. One can't walk away from this movie without a touch of paranoia, and a test of one's morality. Trademark Coppola, particularly in his prime in the 70s where he made his viewers question the ramifications of their everyday actions, behaviors, conversations and involvements. Gene Hackman is outstanding as the lead character, Harry Caul, the renowned genius of surveillance, His portrayal of a paranoid man who realizes the ramifications of his work is brilliant, and portrayed only with combination of his and Coppola's skills, along with masterful editing and memorable scenes. Coppola makes use of great character actors, and often and/or previously used Coppola favorites- Harrison Ford, John Cazale, Cindy Williams, Robert DuVall, Terri Garrr and Frederick Forest are among an incredibly effective cast, and script. By the time this movie reaches is climax, your suspicions of the possibilities of every day life built up little by little in this movie are only reaffirmed, to a creepy extent. A masterpiece of a film with all the trademarks of a Coppola gem, overshadowed only by his classic standard that all his future films would be measured by ("Godfather"). One of my all time favorite films, but toughest watches. One needn't be involved in any seedy behavior to walk away from this film with a touch of paranoia. Don't think that wasn't by design. The DVD remastering is brilliant in every respect.

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One of the All TIME GREAT FILMS

First of all, Francis Ford Coppola is to me considered one of the all time great directors in motion pictures. His stories are complex, thrilling, extremely involving, and entertaining as hell! Especially this masterpiece. Gene Hackman gives a startling performance as Harry Caul, an expert wiretapper who becomes paranoid over a recent recording of a couples conversation (Fredric Forest and Cindy Williams). After numerous listenings to the conversation Harry hears something that causes all of the paranoia,"He'd kill us of he got the chance."

I've watched this movie at least 30 times, just to prove how good this movie is. All of the performances are top notch. Including co-stars John Cazale, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, Allen Garfield, and in an ubilled performance Robert Duvall.

My advice to the reader is to buy this movie even if you find it remotley interesting.

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