Overlooked and underrated: Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’

THE CONVERSATION (1974)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Between filming “The Godfather” and “The Godfather, Part II,” writer-director Francis Ford Coppola shot a small, fascinating drama – and one of the great paranoid thrillers that filled screens in the mid-1970s.

Gene Hackman stars in “The Conversation” as Harry Caul, a professional surveillance expert hired to eavesdrop on a conversation between two adults in San Francisco. While filtering through the tapes, Caul begins to suspect someone is in danger.

Coppola wrote, directed and produced this efficient, low-budget film – the second movie of the greatest four-film stretch in motion picture history.”The Godfather” in 1972, “The Conversation” in 1974, “The Godfather Part II” in 1974 and “Apocalypse Now” in 1978.

I guarantee you: No American film director can match the quality, depth and lasting power of each of those films. “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” rank as the top two films ever made, closely followed by the other two.

Coppola, who continues to write and direct, has never topped those four films.

On the running commentary that accompanies the DVD version of “The Conversation,” Coppola talks about how he was influenced by the classic 1966 Michaelangelo Antonioni film “Blowup” – a film that also heavily influenced Brian DePalma’s “Blow Out.”

GENE HACKMAN IN THE CONVERSATION

“Blowup,” Antonioni’s first English-language film, is about a British photographer’s unwitting involvement in a murder. “Blow Out” is about a film soundman who may or may not have recorded the sound of an actual murder.

“The Conversation” also is about murder. Coppola never explicitly unveils what may or may not be happening in his film until the end; instead, he deftly draws us into Caul’s obsessive world of surveillance.

Coppola had been working on the screenplay for years; he said it had nothing at all to do with the Watergate conspiracy and the bugging of the Democratic National Committee – which eventually led to the downfall of Richard Nixon.

But it’s hard not to watch “The Conversation” without what was happening in Washington and without considering the overall mood of the nation.

Our country had been embroiled for months in the Watergate hearings. Nixon’s involvement in the cover-up was becoming harder and harder for him to deny and casually shove under the rug. And along comes “The Conversation,” a great little thriller about surveillance.

It may have been pure coincidence. But Watergate made a good film that much more relevant, edgy and important.

As Caul becomes more embroiled in his own world, the film quickly becomes a classic paranoid thriller. In a way, “The Conversation” is right up there with similar paranoia-themed films as “Three Days of the Condor” and “Marathon Man.”

Coppola does a great job of creating a moody, intense, character-driven film. And David Shire, who scored “The Taking of Pelham One, Two Three” and “All the President’s Men,” does a remarkable job with his jazz-influenced piano-based music.

Across the board, “The Conversation” is top-notch entertainment that makes you think. Sure, the surveillance equipment may seem outdated. But that doesn’t change the fact that this film lives and breathes like no other.

“The Conversation” is available for rental or purchase on DVD. Click here to purchase the DVD from Amazon.com. You also can stream the film in high definition to your computer or television through Netflix. “The Conversation” is rated PG.

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