Film: “The Conversation” (1974) starring Gene Hackman
For movie fans of a certain age, 1974 represents a dividing line—between an era when films were considered art and an era when movies became a way to make a fast buck. It was a great year for movies like Altman’s ”Thieves Like Us,” Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and Coppola’s under-appreciated masterpiece “The Conversation.”
A remastered version of “The Conversation” has just been released and is showing at IFC through Thursday, August 22. It’s preceded by a short filmed introduction by Coppola himself, where he explains the power he was given by the studios to not only write his first original screenplay but direct it, too. The success of “Godfather” Part 1 had something to do with it, he acknowledges.
Meanwhile, I am pleased to report that 50 years after I first saw “The Conversation,” while in college, it still resonates. The premise: Harry Caul (Gene Hackman, fresh from his success in “The French Connection”) is a wiretapper-for-hire in San Francisco. He is contracted by a CEO (Robert Duvall) who wants him to tape a possibly incriminating conversation between two employees (Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest) who may be romantically involved.
As part of the assignment, Harry assembles the most sophisticated collection of microphones and tracking devices available (Note: in 1974, this included buttonhole mics and reel-to-reel tape recorders.) But he soon realizes that the conversation of the couple he is taping in Union Square may lead to a murder.
Harry, a devout Roman Catholic, experiences a rare sense of guilt about the assignment. After all, his usual MO is to follow orders, take the money and run, with no questions asked. This situation somehow is different.
“The Conversation” is not only suspenseful as storytelling but as a master class in acting, particularly for Gene Hackman, who was quite possibly at the peak of his career in the early 1970s. Harry is a character so consumed by paranoia that he cannot tell his sometimes girlfriend (Teri Garr) anything about his personal life. Indeed, all he has at the end of the day is his lonely-guy apartment (with three locks on the door) and his saxophone which he plays along to jazz recordings on his stereo.
The cast of “The Conversation” is a veritable who’s-who of talent from the early 1970s, all of them ready for their closeup. An impossibly young Harrison Ford (pre-Indiana Jones) is excellent as the CEO’s low-key, evil chief of staff. So are Cindy Williams (who went on to success in “Laverne and Shirley”) and Frederic Forrest (“Apocalypse Now.”) Lest we forget, the film also features John Cazale (Fredo in “Godfather 1”).
In 1974, “The Conversation” was extremely relevant. Not only was it filmed during the era of Watergate but it also paved the way for a long line of post-Watergate thrillers, including “The Parallax View” and “All the President’s Men.” Obviously Coppola knew which way the country was headed, and in our current age of paranoia and conspiracy theories, he has proven to be absolutely prophetic. Bravo.
Like this review? Follow me at “What Does Aug Think?” at acsntn.substack.com. Thank you!