Rent The Conversation (1974)

A masterpiece of suspense and tension around the theme of electronic surveillance - The Conversation review by Philip in Paradiso

Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is a highly regarded surveillance expert based in San Francisco; he specializes in wiretapping services. We are in the analogue world but, as the movie shows in great detail, electronic surveillance was already highly advanced, very effective and scarily intrusive in the 1970s (and one dreads to think the extent of it, today, in the internet age, as denounced by, among others, Edward Snowden). Harry Caul and his team work for a range of clients, usually in the private sector. They are given an assignment and carry it out, without asking too many questions. Caul prides himself on his professionalism and focuses on the technical aspects of the job; he appears to have no scruples or, rather, no interest in the actual nature of the cases he is asked to put together, or in the reasons his clients have for seeking the information that Caul gives them.

Caul and his team are hired by a mysterious corporate client to eavesdrop on a couple, seen walking around Union Square, in San Francisco. Despite the ambient noise, Caul works on the various tapes to the point where he has a clear recording of the couple's conversation. The meaning is ambiguous but Caul soon feels that his work may be used in a way that could have tragic consequences. The story develops from there.

Harry Caul is, really, a dull character and a loner (played very well by Gene Hackman). There is a strong technical angle to the movie, as the practical and technological conditions of the surveillance work are described in some detail. In spite of all this, the film is a gripping thriller. And, unlike many such movies, the story gets more interesting, more intriguing and more powerful as it develops, to reach its climax in the last 30 minutes of the film. Highly recommended.

This Is Not On Tape - The Conversation review by JJ

How excellent to see a Blu-ray of this classic this afternoon after seeing it once video-taped off late night TV many years ago.

I think the Oscar people got it wrong by preferring Coppola's other nomination for best picture in 1974, even if that was Godfather II. I think it's the best 'paranoid '70s' thriller genre out there, and it has come up beautifully on B-R as has the atmospheric soundtrack & Hackman's sax playing...

I don't know if it was a sly nod by CP to include Enemy Of The State - a sort of sequel from 25 years later - in the same envelope, but if it was it was a nice touch. It certainly made a great double bill for us today.

Just OK - The Conversation review by LG

(An)alogue surveillance film by FF Coppola, the way snooping used to done but more a character study of a mans vocation consuming his very being... 3.5 stars

Well directed and intense movie - The Conversation review by CD

I was keen to see this Gene Hackman film given his recent sad passing. It is very different from the other more action oriented films of his that I have seen, but still very impressive albeit rather long. The focus is very much on Hackman and his surveillance rather than the characters being spied upon. The camera work especially at the beginning is memorable and it is fascinating to enter the shady world of personal surveillance. The special features interview that comes with the DVD is worth a watch as it explains how Cappola was trying to achieve several objectives in "The Conversation" and how contrasting his ambition was in this film to the Godfather films.

Overrated Thriller - The Conversation review by GI

Recently restored and released onto 4K UHD Francis Ford Coppola's slow burning drama cum thriller and said to be his favourite of his films remains, for me, a bit to slow burning for its own good. Admittedly it's been many years since I last watched it but despite the central performance from Gene Hackman the film is one that you have really have to concentrate on and it leaves a feeling of unfulfillment by its conclusion. Whether intended or not you can't help connecting the Watergate scandal's effects in this story of a surveillance expert who specialises in bugging conversations for clients. Harry (Hackman) is known as a master of his trade and his latest job entails cleverly recording a conversation between a young woman and a man in a busy plaza. Harry doesn't bother himself with what is aid only in getting the recording for the client (who is played by Robert Duvall in an uncredited cameo). But whilst delivering the tapes he spots the couple at the building of the client and decides not to hand them over later suspecting there is a plot to kill the two targets. Hackman plays Harry as a withdrawn, lonely and suspicious man who shuns the attention of his admirers in the trade. It is a clever performance but the narrative feels all a bit lacklustre. Harrison Ford co-stars in this celebrated film that just doesn't entrall me.