Review of The Conversation (1974) by Kenneth L — 10 Sep 2011

You never hear that much about this movie, probably because it is overshadowed by the two movies Francis Ford Coppola made before and after it, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. That's too bad, because this is another very strong and distinctive movie. It doesn't have the grandeur of the Godfather films, but it is very involving and has great acting.

The movie has a fantastic opening sequence, as a surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) covertly records the titular conversation between a young man and young woman in a public square in San Francisco. The film then spends a lot of time developing Hackman's character, before getting back to the central thriller plot and culminating in a bunch of truly shocking twists. The way the ending plays with your expectations and interpretations of events is brilliant, and a key image from the ending is scary and unforgettable.

Hackman is excellent in the lead. Harry Caul is a man who doesn't have a life outside his work. He fiercely protects his privacy, but ironically he really has no private life to protect. He's paranoid about people listening to him, but what would they hear if they did? Just him practicing his saxophone, that's it. There are a bunch of other great actors in smaller roles, including John Cazale as Harry's annoyed associate, and a young Harrison Ford as the ominous agent of Harry's client.

Sound plays a bigger, or at least more noticeable, role in this film than in most. The weird audio effects associated with Harry's spying in the film are strange in their effects, and the way the titular conversation keeps getting replayed and re-adjusted and re-interpreted is fascinating. Coppola's direction is visually very smart without being intrusive or overly obvious. The film is a bit slow-paced by the standards of today's thrillers, but creates a more memorable character than most of today's thrillers can manage.