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Bleak and mysterious, Francis Ford Coppola's taut masterpiece about responsibility, privacy, alienation, and paranoia is part Hitchcockian thriller, part grim character study. Hackman plays Harry Caul, a guarded wreck of a human being whose profession as the world's greatest surveillance expert has detached him from everyday reality. Though a topnotch voyeur, amorally earning his living by bugging other people's conversations and selling the tapes to clients, Caul keeps his own life fiercely private. He has no friends, just associates in the wiretapping business, all of whom he distrusts; his love life consists of apathetic sex with what could be any woman; his apartment contains three locks but few possessions. His indifference to life extends to his attitude about his job: though he's a wiretapping genius, he accepts no responsibility for what harm his work might produce--it's merely work... until now.
While on his latest assignment, Caul breaks his own code and becomes immersed in the latest conversation he's taped. While piecing together fragments of a lunchtime conversation (Coppola dazzles us with his repeated fetish for technology here), something stirs Caul and he begins projecting his own misery onto the discussion. He finally discerns that some evil plot may occur because of his work and is forced into the moral dilemma of whether to turn in the tapes.
Ultimately, Coppola's cynical, complex script doesn't just condemn Caul for his foolish discovery of his own conscience; it shatters him into a million pieces, during an unforgettable final image. Allusions to Watergate are impossible to ignore, and the movie is still one of the most devastating, important films in '70s American cinema. --Dave McCoy
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A CHAMBER-MUSIC MASTERPIECE,
By Gail Hightower (Boston) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Conversation (Widescreen) (DVD)
Reading over the reviews here of this remarkable movie, I'd say most of its virtues have been well covered, and what's behind most of the bad reviews uncovered: people who don't get this movie are ones who need the usual thriller or Godfather stuff, which this film doesn't provide. It's small-scale, enormously subtle in story and acting, and its originality is as subtle as the rest of it. Among the trio of friends who came up together--Spielberg and Lucas the others--I think Coppola was the only real grownup, and the most ambitious to say something truly serious, though he also had the grand visual flair of the other two. The Conversation is at the heart of his work. If I had to compare it to anything, it'd be the Melville story "Benito Cereno," in which we think we know what's going on but we don't, not at all. Other reviewers mention the "philosophical" aspect. For me, here's what that's about: With the most sophisticated technology available, professional bugger Harry Caul finds out what two people said. But what he doesn't understand is the _meaning_ of what they said, and the meaning is what makes the difference. The way Coppla reveals that, with a little trick of sound, is for all its quietness one of the most brilliant and hair-raising moments I know in film. It's a parable of technology, of the meaning of truth, of the nature of preconceptions (who we expect to be the bad guys aren't) and lots else--the philosophically inclined can take their pick. In my own list of greatest movies of all time, this is somewhere in the first five. If you don't need exploding fireballs in your thrillers and know great acting and directing when you see it, this movie is as good as it gets.
1.0 out of 5 stars
stupide histoire,
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This review is from: Conversation (DVD)
Encore une fois j'ai choisi un mauvais film, cet acteur qui produit d'excellent film , celui là était son plus pire je n'ai pas aimer ce film. très déçu.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Commentaries Embellish This DVD,
By
This review is from: The Conversation (Widescreen) (DVD)
This is an excellent piece of filmaking. Very, very underated to date although many of the Amazon posts catch this piece of story telling. Like the parallel editing sequence that MADE the end of Godfather 1, really kill (pardon the pun) at least according to Robert Evans (The Kid Stays in the Picture)-it is interesting to note that this particular new editor of "The Conversation"-contributed alot of great ideas to the story as well as working on the sound mixing. FFC was off working on Godfather II, so perhaps the Editor has a little more freedom and time to work his magic. Funny-most of the workers of the young studio were non-union so he could not even be credited as a picture or sound Editor. Famous Director of Photography Haskell Wexler was "let go" by Francis very early on and replaced. This action gave the film a superior look, for the theme of the film. You have to love the retro vibe of all that electronic tape gear in the digital age we now live. The visual look is crisp and stunning. If you view this DVD-watch BOTH commentaries. The haunting piano melody over the DVD Menu and that appears throughout the story-is worth appreciation alone. I actually sat down and counted out both sets of machine gun triplets in what is a rather dreamy piece of solo piano. As many have said already-this belongs in your DVD library. And let's not forget the early work here of Harrison Ford-complete with scar on his chin; Cindy Williams; Robert Duvall and Teri Garr. Enjoy and relish. People ARE watching and listening. Even Gene Hackman's sax has "ears."
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