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The Conversation

The Conversation (1974)

April. 07,1974
|
7.7
|
PG
| Drama Crime Mystery

Surveillance expert Harry Caul is hired by a mysterious client's brusque aide to tail a young couple. Tracking the pair through San Francisco's Union Square, Caul and his associate Stan manage to record a cryptic conversation between them. Tormented by memories of a previous case that ended badly, Caul becomes obsessed with the resulting tape, trying to determine if the couple is in danger.

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XoWizIama
1974/04/07

Excellent adaptation.

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Odelecol
1974/04/08

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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Aubrey Hackett
1974/04/09

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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Lachlan Coulson
1974/04/10

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

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morrison-dylan-fan
1974/04/11

Looking at various lists on IMDb,I found a great list by Red-Barracuda,which had a rather overlooked Francis Ford Coppola title near the top. Catching up on eps of Screen Junkies News the next day,I was taken aback when one of the hosts picked the same film as the best underrated movie by a famous director,which led to me joining the listening party.View on the film: Attempting to get the film made since the early 60's,writer/directing auteur Francis Ford Coppola proves that it was worth him spending all that time fighting for this title with immaculate stylisation. Changing cinematographers in mid-production, Coppola impressively keeps the visual motifs consistent, with Caul's spy centre given a dour brown appearance where extended takes hold on Caul's worker drone mindset the surroundings build,whilst Caul's mysterious baker is given a chic, Wall Street elite tower. Playing David Shire unsettling electronic score when filming and having Walter Murch cast the sound montages, Coppola manipulates the soundtrack with masterful procession,as Caul's obsession to unscramble the audio reels the viewer into piecing together their own interpretation of the recordings.Keeping in the dark the reason the recording has been made for the first half, the screenplay by Coppola brilliantly records Caul as a meek Winston Smith,who never questions the people who are paying him,and treats the taping he makes as a mundane part to his lonely life. Uncoiling Caul's obsession, Coppola plays a sly line in misdirection which cleverly mis-matches what is seen and what is heard,and leads into an ending that turns Caul into one of the plumbers of paranoia in the era. Peeling away all the movie star charm,Gene Hackman gives an outstanding performance as Caul,who Hackman squeezes into every corner of doubt and anxiety, by listening to all the conversations.

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okk07
1974/04/12

When I saw "Conversation", I thought great at three points.First, this film threatened us. The sound of record which was repeated again and again gave threat and mystery. Also, When Harry confirmed the room 773, we felt that something would happen. Second, we can't expect the truth. We listened to the words "He'd kill us if he got the chance" again and again. Then, we thought the couple would be killed if someone got the chance. However, this was not true. Maybe, many people didn't expect they killed a man. I surprised that when they stress "He'd", this means is they will be killed, and when they stress "us", this means is they will kill someone. Third, this film express that Harry who eavesdrop someone was eavesdropped. Harry was the person who eavesdrop someone. After that, Harry noticed the truth. Then Harry was to be eavesdropped at last. I thought this is interesting in term of that Harry changed the reverse position.

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Sameir Ali
1974/04/13

Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary film maker has his signature in the movie. The movie may be a little dragging in the beginning for normal audience. But, once you finish the film, you will be excited and go for a second time. That's the master.The Conversation is about a spy expert. He is specialized in taping people's conversations. The movie begins with such a complicated task. The brilliant protagonist, with his futuristic vision has well planned and executed that operation. But, as he decodes the target's conversations, he has a feeling that if he handover the tape to the client, the victims may be murdered. This thought haunts him and makes a tough time with the client.In this era of technology, where you can fix a camera anywhere you like, this movie is really important. There is an exhibition that the protagonist attends. The technology explained there is amazing. Remember the movie was released in 1974.A very well made film. It has a different face of its own. The movie will leave an impact in your mind. You may be worried about how secured your privacy is...!!A must watch. Highly recommended.#KiduMovie

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thor-teague
1974/04/14

The 1974 Francis Ford Coppela drama/mystery thriller "The Conversation" was lacking in several respects, which I think you'll agree are all inexcusable and, should you decide to watch this movie, will leave you feeling alone and soulless. First off, it's clearly a rip-off of 1998's Enemy of the State. Yes, I know it came roughly 25 years earlier, but I am convinced they perfected time travel technology and actually stole the idea from Tony Scott. I mean he came up with Final Destination, Gladiator, and Spy Game. How cool is that! Jack Black warned Tony Scott when he made Enemy of the State that the creation of the movie would cause a rift in time, and all of existence in the universe would be micturated down the drain. Case in point: Soul Plane. Speaking of which, The Conversation is conspicuously Jack Black-less. I think any sane person's review of any movie should have the category of "Jack Black presence to screen ratio", which should factor heavily into the final score for any movie, including those which were made before his birth. Take for instance The Jackal, which was no Shallow Hal, mind you, but made big gains for the best and most pornographic Jack Black death scene ever. FFC's The Conversation is rife with problems and errors. Firstly, long, cumbersome periods of character development. You'll notice that Enemy of the State solved this problem by leaving the third dimension out of the characters--this helped save time and budget money for explosions. Which brings me to my next gripe: no explosions in The Conversation. Enemy of the State weighs in with a lofty dozen or so explosion, "BLOWING" The Conversation away in this category. Pun intended! Finally, there is no murdering in the Conversation until a mind-numbing two hours into the movie. Enemy of the State also wins in this category, getting to the murder straightaway. I think that Francis Ford Coppela could really learn a lot from Tony Scott about how a good movie should be made. His lack of modern technology has made his movie look sooo 70's, man. As far as The Conversation is concerned, I would say watch it only if you are not interested in seeing a movie riding on a hollow wave of special effects and Hollywood hype. Of course it goes without saying that everyone is only interested in that. ;-)

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