The Conversation Reviews

My Favourite Film.... Ever!!!

This has to be my favourite film, I'll tell you why...

1. Gene Hackman is in it and he's the don. I think this has to be his best role. Hackman plays it to a tea. Subtle and understated, we feel his pain. Always worth watching!!

2. Its got a great plot!!! Which unravels as the film moves along.. Nice & neat twist.

3. Great film sound. I love the sound in this film. Its paranoid and edgy and it makes the atmosphere claustrophobic. I also love the music soundtrack with its eery signature theme which represents Harry's pain, loneliness and isolation.

For me this is Coppola at the pinacle of his powers. He made 'The Conversation' between the two 'Godfather' films which a lot of people consider to be the best Hollywood cinema of all time.

Peace. Gonz

Best film of the 70s?

Long before he started making films about Robin Williams as a boy-child, Francis Ford Coppola directed intelligent works like The Conversation. Ostensibly about professional eavesdropper Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) who is hired to tape a conversation between two apparent innocents, Coppola fashions an extraordinary work that fuses urban loneliness and a deep suspicion of corporate America. Clearly influenced by Blow Up, in which a bystander is similarly drawn into a murky, conspiratorial world, this 1974 classic initially plays as documentary before the thriller element assumes prominence. Yet this is a thriller in which no gun is fired and no flashy pyrotechnics used to generate suspense. Instead, the dispassionate gaze and beguiling sound design do the work for us. Suffice to say that a flushing toilet and a misheard conversation would be roundly rejected by today’s studios as too meek for the basis of a thriller. Yet in this film, both are crucial elements. The performances throughout are wonderfully modulated. Hackman has rarely been better; a seething mix of neurosis and impotency, and he is ably abetted by John Cazale and Harrison Ford. While not as grand as the two Godfathers, The Conversation is arguably richer and more relevant: the final scene, of Hackman alone in his stripped apartment, is a remarkable metaphor for the state of a nation still reeling from revelations of a break-in at a certain Washington hotel.

What was that all about?

The only reason i kept watching it was to see if it got any better. I thought with having Gene Hackman in it would be okay. Do not watch if bothered by irritable films.

Gene Hackman at his best

This is yet another film in which Gene Hackman shows off his acting genius. Give this movie a chance and I think you will not be disappointed. I would have to say that the movie is a little one paced, but at no point did I lose interest. Hackman grabs your attention with his screen presence and takes you into the world of wire tappers and surveillance. Slowly he becomes too personally involved in what should have been just another job. The closing scene was for me brilliant. Put this on your Rental Queue.

You never know who's listening ...

Just what was about Coppola in the 70s? Everything he touched turned to gold. Not only was every film he directed in that decade a classic (The Godfather I&II, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now) but he also co-wrote and produced films such as 'Patton' and 'American Graffiti'. It was the decade when he won himself five Oscars and was nominated for six more. Throughout his whole life his only other nomination was for the much-criticised 'The Godfather Part III'. Nothing he has done before or since that decade has even begun to compare to his work in the 70s.

While 'The Conversation' is technically the worst of his four great films, that's not exactly a criticism considering how brilliant the others were. Gene Hackman plays a nervous, haunted professional eavesdropper (for us Brits it's amusing to hear his profession referred to as a 'bugger') in a role like no other I've ever seen him in. He gives a fantastic performance which is necessary for this sort of a character-driven thriller. The story is a little slow moving, but really builds up the tension and sets a terrific atmosphere for itself to unfold. It was originally a horror movie, and elements of this remain but essentially it's more of a psychological thriller.

Maybe someday Francis Ford Coppola will regain some of his former talent and start making good movies again. Until then, we always have Sofia Coppola to rely on ...

Classic Cinema

This film is not really suited for the low attention span of the modern audience. This is an audience who thinks that films like 'Gladiator' and 'Troy' are classic cinema, an audience that thinks if there are sections of dialouge longer than 2 minutes and no explosions after 10 minutes that the film is slow.

This is a tense, slow burning psyocological thriller. It mirrors the paranoia of the times. These films of the seventies are miles better than anything in the 80's, 90's or this century and Hollywood may never reach these heights again.

So, ok you may not appreciate it, but that doesnt mean you can knock it!

This is one of the finist films of the seventies. Sandwiched between his epics The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, this is a real lost classic. It's a film which really credits the audience with some intelligence, not sensationalising the action or overerplaying the drama. <br><br>The soundtrack is one of the finest ever created, with the conversation of the title repeated over and over. You'll never forget the final time you here it, with the subtle inflection which changes your entire perception of what has just happened, and leads to Hackman's disintegration. This really is a wonderfull example of how powerfull movies can be without any sort of bombast.

The Conversation

What was all that about??!!....I tried twice to get into this film and after an hour of waiting it just lost my attention and i gave up on it which is not something i normally do.

Im sure it does get better later in the film but for me its just too slow and boring to hold my attention for that to happen.

Not for me im afraid.

Farce

When I rented this film I didn't have high hopes for it due to its age, but some of the more positive reviews tempted me to add it to my list. Anyway as fate would have it, this was the first movie sent to me! Some parts were gripping and the music although not to my taste worked well with the movie and was quite disturbing at times. There's no doubting that Gene Hackman is a brilliant actor, but I quickly forgot it was him during the film. I found certain parts hilarious, but this is no comedy! The noise the woman makes while walking into a hanging object, and her reaction had me rewinding again and again. Also, as a Brit, the line, 'he's the best bugger in the west coast' and proceeding dialogue was enough to make it a farce of a movie! Not to mention the highly sophisticated surveillance technology employed! This film would make a great topic for a media studies course, but aside from that poor entertainment. Maybe I'm just too young to 'get it' or I've come to expect more of movies in the 21st century.

Pardon?

I just didn't get it.... Perhaps this is one for the people who were actually alive when this was made!

It's just not up to the standard of some of Gene's other work in the period.