Movie Review: "The Conversation"

“I’m not afraid of dying. I am afraid of murder...”

In 1972, director Francis Ford Coppola literally skyrocketed to the forefront of American cinema with the success of his film “The Godfather”. Seemingly on a roll and residing in a creative zenith that would envelop him throughout the following decade, Coppola went on to direct two of the greatest films of his career in the same year. 1974 would see the triumphant return of the Corleone crime saga to the screen, with “The Godfather, Part II”. 1974 also saw a Coppola masterpiece on a much smaller scale. Sandwiched between the one-two punch of the “Godfather” films is “The Conversation”, a much overlooked little gem that, while equally as important as the “Godfather” films, has, for thirty years, stood in their shadow.

“The Conversation” stars Gene Hackman in one of the best performances of his career. Hackman plays Harry Caul, one of the best wire-tapping surveillance experts in the world. Caul makes his living prying into other people’s private moments. While he is the best at what he does, we see that his career has left him a closed-up, paranoid shell of a human being. His heavily padlocked apartment belies the fact that he owns nothing worth stealing. When his girlfriend (played by Terri Garr) begins to ask him the most basic of personal questions, he leaves her apartment, never to return. He is a legend in his field, he is successful, and he is empty and alone.

The film opens with the recording of the conversation which gives the film its title. We watch as Caul, with two associates, takes turns shadowing a young couple through a park. With almost surgical precision, the three men complete their assignment, recording the private words of others without drawing attention to themselves. Later, we see Caul in his workshop, a cage in the far corner of an empty building. Using sophisticated machines, Caul uses the three different recordings of the conversation to make one definitive master, free of distortion, leaving every private word audible. As the audience and Caul listen to the conversation slowly begin to take shape, the ominous overtones of the couple’s words become readily evident. Convinced that the recording will be used for ill purposes, Caul grows a conscience, and refuses to turn in the tape. The events that follow lead to one of the most surprising, haunting, and shattering conclusions in film.

It is a rare film that bears repeated viewings while retaining the power to haunt and disturb. “The Conversation” is such a film. Coppola weaves a tapestry so rich in detail, so complex and layered, that to see this film more than once is not only recommended, it is necessary. On a small scale, “The Conversation” is one of the greatest character studies in the history of film. On a larger scale, “The Conversation” perfectly mirrors the paranoia of a post-Watergate U.S.. The film also raises intriguing questions over the nature of privacy. In our society with security cameras on every street corner, “The Conversation” bears even more relevance today than it did thirty years ago. It stands alone as one of the greatest films of the 1970's.

The Conversation is available in the library's DVD collection.