The Conversation -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 162) 

The Crux of the plot pivits 180 degrees on the simple accent-change between these two words in this one sentence: "He’d KILL us… if he had the chance" and; "He’d kill US… if he had the chance." Pure Genius.

This film isn't a horror and, yet, that jump scene towards the end is probably 100x scarier than anything you'll see in modern horror today.

This movie was so ahead of it’s time - the whole idea of Surviellance society came to fruition

John Cazale was in 5 movies: (1) Godfather 1 (2) Godfather 2 (3) The Conversation (4) Dog Day Afternoon (5) The Deer Hunter That's a pretty good batting average.

My favorite moment was when Caul realized he'd been bugged briefly as a mean-spirited prank, and the sense of indignant violation quickly turns into guilt and self-loathing. You could even read it as the moment where he begins to lose his grasp on reality, as he becomes increasingly paranoid from that moment forward.

Just had to pause when you said "The Conversation" is the best of the Coppola 70's movies. I was certain i was the only person who maintains this position. Not to say thet the others aren't great, epic films... But this is a great little film.

This is a great existential film with a haunting score and is expertly acted by all --- of course, Hackman in the lead performance is unforgettable. And I agree, this may be the best of Coppola's 1970's output and that is saying a lot considering the more popular Godfather films and Apocalypse Now. In my opinion, this film was inspired to a certain degree by Alfred Hitchcock's _Rear Window (1954)_ and Michelangelo Antonioni's _Blow-Up (1966)._ 1981's _Blow Out_ by Brian Depalma also owes a debt to both _Blow-up_ and _The Conversation._

Hackman hit out the park with this performance. Harry is the antithesis of all of the one dimensional leading man roles I see in so many thrillers; nuanced and with a particular psychology. He's a tortured soul, too, much like DeNiro's Travis Bickle.

Coppola was at the top of his game back in the 70s, delivering one great movie after another at that time. Though Apocalypse Now remains my all time favorite Coppola movie, I truly enjoyed The Conversation. It's a crafty, well-written, well-acted paranoid thriller that still feels relevant to this day.

just finished this film, the last few minutes are incredible and the score is so captivating

I LOVED THAT MOVIE!!!!! I saw it first in a theater, and was hooked ever since! I found it on DVD and have it now to watch over and over. A REAL spin tingler!

This film is one of the great 70s classics.

This really made people respect Gene as an actor. He could've played a tough guy his whole career but he surprised many with Scarecrow and this

Definitely a masterpiece and my favourite Coppola film. Thanks for a great analysis and tribute to its greatness. I have read that Coppola was asked how the film was be be interpreted and he said that he didn't know. It's open-ended and that is what makes it great. For me it doesn't matter, it's so well crafted.

I was 23 when I saw The Conversation in the theater. It was a film that has stayed with me. It's right there with Marathon Man and The Boys from Brazil. I appreciate this revisit; I want to watch this film again.

Funny I just watched this movie too a few days ago after last seeing it as a young teenager back in 1974. It always stayed with me as a great film and after a fresh viewing after 49 years it is a masterpiece!

Just saw this beautiful movie on 35mm. The picture is a bit darker, little bit grainier and much dirtier which in my opinion gives the movie a much more authentic touch.

Watched the 50th Anniversary restored print of this at the cinema last night with my two teen kids. They sat through the whole thing (minor miracle) and even chatted about it after on the bus home. Interestingly, they focussed more on the character piece than the tech / paranoia element...which is testament to the performance and script, but also possibly because they are slightly numbed to the privacy thing?

Oh wow, I just watched this movie after watching it in my late teens, when I did not understand it. And coincidentally, I just joined this channel. Cannot get my mind off this movie and am very excited to watch your presentation and comments about it!

The reason why the '70s are so extraordinary when it comes to movies is because every story was so simple, so raw, genuinely original and well-written, and largely character-driven. George Lucas ruined EVERYTHING with "Star Wars". Now, thanks to this, every film has to over-the-top, predictable, filled with archetypes, and little room for subtlety. Every comedy has to be raunchy and profane even though Chaplin is funnier than anyone. Every horror has to be gory even though "Halloween" is terrifying and has zero blood in it. Almost every film is now created just to sell by playing it safe and using every trick in the book to appeal to viewers. Every now and then find a simple, genuinely good film like "Fargo" but most of it is sequels and remakes with the same recycled formula.

You mentioned Harry's lack of relationships or his lack of opening up to people; there is one brilliant moment that says so much during the party scene at his warehouse. This happens after Harry somewhat opens up when talking to Meredith, and then he walks back to his workspace while Stan is riding his scooter, and another surveillance guy is running around the warehouse. By this point, Harry is by his equipment, and his head touches a notice hanging from a light, or maybe a microphone. He looks at the tag and tenderly blows it. To me, that little moment shows how much love and trust he has for his equipment than with people he works with or cares for.

I was shown the main theme of this movie by my mom a couple months ago, and have started learning it, but I’ve never watched it. I’m glad this video exists to introduce me to it!

I love the opening scene with the directional microphones.

I think it would be very interesting to see who would play a modern version of this character. A hard act to follow.

One of the (many) great american movies of that era!

Another great review -- thank you! The Godfather is overall a better film (the character development alone is unsurpassed), but you can make a really strong case for The Conversation, which also happens to contain the greatest twist ending I've ever seen. Coppola's magical decade is one of history's marvels, up there with Van Gogh's late period, or Mozart's.

I just saw this movie, and I'm absolutely blown away by it. I thought Apocalypse Now was the best film he directed, but this movie is very very close to topping it. Chapeau!

Fantastic video and analysis. I actually just watched this for the first time lastnight and as the opening scene played out, i knew this wouldve been a timeless film. You also just got a new subsciber brother

Really good comment about this superb film Josh. Saw it when it was released and it has bugged me since. Glad you mentioned Pakula's 'Night Moves', another perfect role for Hackman. Interesting to compare the two characters Hackman portrays and their attempts to make sense of the world they are in. Hackman is a very good actor - his menacing presence is similar to that of Anthony Hopkins. Good stuff - going to watch it again.

Great review of a great movie. I saw this movie on release in the mid 1970s, and watched it again a few years ago. Next time I will pay more attention to the soundtrack.

I love this movie too for some weird reason

Whether you enjoy great character studies or thoughtful thrillers. Coppola’s, “The Conversation”, is an exquisite movie that not only reflects its paranoid time period (70’s paranoia) but is even more topical today with cameras and microphones recording us everywhere we go. This is a movie well ahead of its time and must-see cinema.

I love this film

I feel that 'Brill' from 'Enemy of State' would be a natural prolongation of Hackmans character here. A person that had first hand experience with the power of the surveillance state and now fell into a total state of paranoia.

good movie, great video :)

thanks👏

thanks!

I think this is probably the only Melville film not made by Melville.

The names are quite funny. He is called Caul as in call while his competitor is Moran as in moron because he views him as selling inferior garbage but at the same time, he was tricked by him with the free pen. There might be some meaning behind Stett as in stet but I can't figure it out. Just a theory but I believe the red phone from Moran was used by Stett especially when he was at the convention where it was presented. The strange part was he acted so surprise that he was being surveilled yet he had a telephone out in open and connected

Watched this tonight for the first time. It felt ... underwhelming. Was disappointed by that. I figured I'd like it so much more.

this movie heralded the end of personal privacy. all of conversations (email, messaging, social media posts) are now being surveilled by other parties (not necessarily the gov't)...

Morality as a trap. This movie is great but the dream sequence is a big boo for me

i watch it once a year

Harry Caul > Popeye Doyle (in terms of Hackman’s performance)

I could go on for days on the shots framing and writing. Gene Hackman is top tier on this but what really made this movie a top 10 for me was easily the perfect score. It oozes darkness and mystery.

Im glad we got the same views. Like being an unreliable narrator theme and stuff.

Sound design and David Shire’s score

It´s in the saxophone...

I just watched this and thought it was just ok. I have a few issues. 1. The spoiler conversation switch is a bit of a cheat. He could't possibly mishear it that badly. If it sounded like that at first, he might have suspected something was up. 2. Maybe I didn't watch closely enough, but the hotel meet up with the Director didn't make sense to me. 3. Why didn't he just move at the end? Surely his landlord wouldn't have been ok with the noise and damage.

One question about Hackman's character, who is supposedly a master of his craft and deeply protective of his secret techniques. Why would he bring a group of friends and competitors to his private office?

Never really gotten this one. Tried to re-watch it i while back but it was just soooo boring. My rank of Blow Up rip offs: 1. Blow Out 2. Blow Up(Yes i include the original) 3. The Conversation

This film was like watching paint dry and ia m a bit of a film buff

This film was on my «to view» list for a long time. I saw the film but was disappointed by the overall story. I mean it was ok but I get the feeling the movie is overrated. I’m writing with all respect for those who love it. It’s just my point of view.

This was a dull, slow moving film with a "phone in" performance by the great Mr. Hackman. He seems to be thinking to himself throughout the film "WHY did I agree to do this?" It is so subtle in its unfolding that nothing ever unfolds. If "He'd kill us if he had the chance" is the axis upon which this film rotates then what a monumental waste of film this was. Hackman just sleepwalks through the film. Was Terri Garr his girlfriend or a hooker? Who knows and who cares? There was never a powerful scene where Harry's paranoic disorder was revealed beyond hiding under the covers ( seriously, folks?) after a brief hallucination. It was embarrassingly poorly done. But because Coppola's name is on it we assume it must be great just as an inkblot on an envelope would be considered great if it was signed by Picasso.

This movie is highly rated so I watched it on Disney+. It is slow. I did not enjoy the score, but I don't like jazz especially. I kept waiting for the movie to get going. It's confusing in parts. What was happening in his alcohol induced dream sequence. He saw the murder exactly as it happened and he met the dark haired woman on a foggy hill to try and warn her? My impression is that Gene Hackman's character is autistic. He is a loner by choice, he has poor social skills but is very talented in surveillance. He needs physical intimacy but is unable to maintain an emotional relationship hence the kept woman. He gets upset when the tables are turned and he is subjected to surveillance. The wine put in his room by the Super, the pen in his jacket pocket which even I knew was a bug, Harrison Ford knew his telephone number without being told and played him his own saxophone back to him to show him his room was bugged even though Caul could not find the bug despite tearing his place apart including his precious Jesus statue. He had been outsmarted by someone. How was Caul contacted by the Director? $15K in the 70's would have been good pay. The dark haired woman is the Director's (Robert Duvall's) Daughter? The blood coming up out of the toilet implies they cleaned up the room and flushed the evidence down the toilet which became blocked. Did they then cover up the murder by making it look like a car accident, hence why they showed us the car earlier and the newspaper article with the photo and headline? To suggest a middle aged man is having paranoid delusions (which typically occur in severe depression or paranoid psychosis) does not make sense because Caul is clearly not mentally ill with these diseases and is clearly very intelligent and at the end he reverts back to playing his saxophone to relax. Presumably the subplot is that the director is controlling of his daughter who wants her freedom and plots to murder her father to inherit his substantial business and money by drawing him in to going to a hotel room alone to catch her with her lover only to be murdered by his personal assistant, Harrison Ford. Which building is the Director working from? Is this set in San Francisco hence the fog? The honey trap scene with the woman in the backless, green dress was just creepy. Caul is a deeply religious man and Roman Catholic. He takes confession. He is full of guilt because his previous work lead to horrific murders.

One of my favorite films, tops my list from Coppola. Though I've never committed myself to a particular theory on the ending, I have certainly mulled both possibilities. Glad you mentioned the score, understated perfection for me. Speaking of David Shire, have you heard his score for Apocalypse Now? He completed nearly an hour of material for the film before being fired. It's easy to find these days and may be up your alley, as I've heard you express affinity for synthesized scores a few times on this channel. Thanks for the great analysis.

1:14 Lol I can understand why that guy thought he had a defective torrent without watching further.