The Conversation

• 1974
• US
• 1h 53min
• 12

• Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
• Written by: Francis Ford Coppola
• Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall

Harry Caul (Hackman) is a master of surveillance who works alone and is secretive to the point of paranoia. One day a routine wire-tapping job turns into a nightmare when Harry thinks he hears something disturbing in a conversation between a young couple. As he begins to worry that his tape may be used as a pre-emptive to murder, he breaks his own rigid rules by getting involved. Post Kent State, bang in the middle of the worst atrocities of Vietnam, Caul was a metaphor for the American middle-aged everyman, betrayed by his government, yet hated by a younger generation. A dark, existential thriller which has often been copied but never equalled.

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