The Conversation (1974)

A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple, on whom he is spying, will be murdered.

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writer:

Francis Ford Coppola

Stars:

Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gene Hackman	...	Harry Caul
John Cazale	...	Stan
Allen Garfield	...	Bernie Moran
Frederic Forrest	...	Mark
Cindy Williams	...	Ann
Michael Higgins	...	Paul
Elizabeth MacRae	...	Meredith (as Elizabeth Mac Rae)
Teri Garr	...	Amy
Harrison Ford	...	Martin Stett
Mark Wheeler	...	Receptionist
Robert Shields	...	The Mime
Phoebe Alexander	...	Lurleen

Storyline

Harry Caul is a devout Catholic and a lover of jazz music who plays his saxophone while listening to his jazz records. He is a San Francisco-based electronic surveillance expert who owns and operates his own small surveillance business. He is renowned within the profession as being the best, one who designs and constructs his own surveillance equipment. He is an intensely private and solitary man in both his personal and professional life, which especially irks Stan, his business associate who often feels shut out of what is happening with their work. This privacy, which includes not letting anyone into his apartment and always telephoning his clients from pay phones is, in part, intended to control what happens around him. His and Stan's latest job (a difficult one) is to record the private discussion of a young couple meeting in crowded and noisy Union Square. The arrangement with his client, known only to him as "the director", is to provide the audio recording of the discussion ...

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Plot Keywords:

surveillance | san francisco california | paranoia | recording | saxophone | 

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Taglines:

Harry Caul will go anywhere to bug a private conversation.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1974 (France)

Also Known As:

The Conversation

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,600,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$4,420,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,432,180

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Directors Company, The Coppola Company, American Zoetrope

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital (restored version)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lyrics of The Twilight Singers song "The Conversation", from the 2006 album Powder Burns, were inspired by the film.

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Goofs

Given Caul's character, and his paranoid state of mind, I find it inconceivable that he would allow a dozen or so "colleagues/competitors" into his work space and allow them to poke around, leaving the critical tapes out in the open.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Passerby: Well, I want to go over to my place and start, you know, getting it on...
Ann: Oh, that's terrible.
Mark: Yeah. Do you ever, uh... ballet?
Ann: Be thankful. Do you have a quarter for them?
Mark: Yes, I do.
Ann: [gives it to street band]
Ann: What about me?
Mark: You'll see.
Ann: A lot of fun you are. You're supposed to tease me, give hints, make me guess, you know.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004)

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Soundtracks

When I Take My Sugar To Tea
(1931)
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Irving Kahal & Pierre Norman

User Reviews

A Movie About Poor Communications Skills

The Conversation is a stark look into the modern art of surveillance and its affect on one of its practitioners. Harry Caul (Hackman) is at the top of his business, but he's disturbed. Highly paranoiac, he is troubled by bad things that happened to some innocent people as a result of a prior surveillance job. Now he's afraid it's happening again....

The Conversation could not be more antithetical of the current movie making style. Stark, claustrophobic, unsexy, slow-paced, and with almost no soundtrack, it slowly builds to its dramatic noirish denouement.

A real treat, and as an added attraction the actors include a young Cindy Williams, Terri Garr, John Cazale, and Harrison Ford. Worth the rental unless anything outside of the MTV mould causes agitation.