This low-budget conspiracy thriller was written, produced and released by director Francis Ford Coppola before and during the Wategate era—a time of heightened concern over the violation of civil liberties. Its claustrophobic themes of the invasion of privacy, alienation, guilt, voyeurism, justified paranoia, unprincipled corporate power and personal responsibility effectively responded to growing, ominous 20th century threats of eavesdropping to personal freedom. Harry Caul (superbly played by Gene Hackman) is an odd fish in his personal life, but reigns supreme at his chosen occupation as a surveillance expert. Haunted by the death of three people as a result of his work, he discovers while covering a seemingly routine case of marital infidelity that he has become the victim of his own technological profession and intrigue. Naturally big business is behind it all, developing eavesdropping equipment of staggering complexity and efficiency in an elaborate attempt to record anything ever said by anybody at any time, all in the name of financial gain. The film, which subtly posits that technology has gotten out of control, failed at the box office on release, but the continuing relevance of its central issues has kept it alive with cinema lovers everywhere and made it an acknowledged masterpiece of the genre. —siff
He was born in 1939 in Detroit, USA, but he grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father was a composer and musician Carmine Coppola. His mother had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such capacities as soundman, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Dementia 13 (1963), Coppola’s first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of This Property is Condemned, by Tennessee Williams (with Fred Coe and Edith Sommer), and screenplays for Is Paris Burning?, and Patton, the film for which Coppola won a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola’s 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and George… read more
Excellent, thought-provoking character study of paranoia and alienation. David shire's mysterious, jazz-infused film score only serves to heighten the film's tense moments. When you see Gene Hackman tear up his apartment by the last frame, you can hardly believe your eyes.
Perfect thriller. I was surprised to see touches of Antonioni throughout the film, this time the main character not afflicted by ennui but paranoia and frustration, and the way Coppola takes those emotions to the film's core and paces it around them is quite brilliant. It perfectly blurs the line between a genre film and a character study. Also, that piano score by David Shire... just amazing.
Hitchcock' influence is clear from the suspense to the toilet scene. I had the chills throughout the entire film. Masterpiece.
Also: Thanksgiving movie scenes, top 50 films ever, vintage posters exhibition, Eraserhead set photos, DVDs and more.
Francis Ford Coppola turned 70 this month, which would have been reason enough to resurrect this incredible poster for his little-known 1969
A slowly unraveling thriller that reveals more and more with each new scene and all leads up to the stunning, haunting finale. I thought it was really ingenious the way that Coppola revealed more about… read review
Lets get the definitive statements out of the way early. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is one of the finest thrillers ever made. In terms of thrills, in terms of originality, in terms of… read review
One of Francis Ford Coppola’s many masterpieces, this took the idea of voyeurism to an entirely new level. It’s almost scary to see how incredibly easy it is to drop in on someone’s private life. The… read review