Very interesting drama about surveillance, two decades before Enemy of the State. Much quieter and more low-key than that film, though the basic idea is the same. Gene Hackman delivers a brilliant performance, against type, as the paranoid, shy, scared Harry Caul. The sound is absolutely fantastic, edited brilliantly by Walter Murch. A young Harrison Ford is solid in a supporting role, and the ending is quite effective. Only one (big) problem: the story moves at a snail's pace throughout the sagging middle, and the central plot - the conversation which Caul has recorded - is never given enough time to develop. All-around well-made film, though, from directing to acting to editing.

Oh Goodness. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen-- right down to the snapping off of the Virgin's head.
How are there only two reviews here? I didn't realize this wasn't a thread.

I think it is boring, seriously boring.

What Argos said- The Conversation is absolute death.

he shot this film between the two godfathers, so it must be be as good as these two, you crazy fuckers.

Highly overrated.

When you sit down to really think about it, there is no crux to the story.

Harry only gets involved once Ford stonewalls him about the Director otherwise it would have been no questions asked. There is no reason, if the Director hired him in the first place, for him to be stonewalled. Harry only wants to give it to the Director for peace of mind or privacy's sake, fair. Later Ford turns out to be working either with or for the couple. By then Harry's paranoia is at such heights that he rips up his apartment, and anyway a variety of techniques shows us he is losing his mind, so it's fair to believe, as much as FFC tries to make it ambiguous that the call he receives at the end is in his mind, that or it's simply bugged Moran's way alluded to earlier in the film, but if that were the case, then Harry's just plain stupid considering Moran didn't need to use a bug. Either way, the presence of Ford would mean the Director doesn't trust him which is why Harry didn't want to give the tape to Ford and became suspicious when Ford tried to make things happen. So, basically, there is really no point to this story.

We're set up with a conversation with actually NO hook. Even the "kill" line is tenuous at best to anyone with a level head. If we add him Harry's paranoia that is what probably makes it critically adored, however, his paranoia wouldn't even have taken off if the Director dealt with Harry personally as promised. So, the Director, suspicious of Ford and his daughter, decides to let Harry contact Ford. Fucking win.

Harry's obviously imagined everything at the hotel room, that much is obvious. Unless of course we want to add, carrying a body around a hotel and putting it in a chauffeured car as plausible in this story. It's clearly trying to blindside the audience without justifying actual other events. Gene Hackman does very well, but he's in a poorly conceptualized story and honestly average and misleading direction in an effort to be artistic but comes off as amateur.

Is it just me, or does Harrison Ford steal this movie?

I forgot he was even in it. I guess that's a no.

Harrison stole the movie and fuhr in seinem Ford fort.

Brachte er ihn in sein Fort?

Ford in seinem Ford zum Fort fort!

The film's good, if nothing that special overall. The last act of the film is its strongest point and I think it loses a lot of what made it so great early on because of the middle act as I feel they drag the message with Caul's past too long. Hackman and Ford are great though and it does have some thrilling moment.

It's a bit of a drag, to be honest. But the film does have merit. Its attention to detail on surveillance equipment, and its methodical approach to storytelling are pluses. But a remake would probably be more riveting. Gene Hackman is good, though. Between, say, Superman and Crimson Tide and this, you can really see what a good actor he is. Whereas a lot of actors are called good but actually just play themselves in every film, such as Ryan Gosling. I love Gosling, but he's not tapping into different characters and psyches every time. He plays Mr. Cool Gosling in every damn movie. The Conversation just proved to me what I always kind of knew anyway; Hackman is no hack, man.

Something I found interesting was how Robert Duvall wasn't a credited performer. I wonder if that was to conceal his part in the film as some sort of protection against the film being spoiled. I mean, it's a big star name. It's odd how he's left off the credits.

I get why it is rated so highly but this one had a difficult time holding my attention.

5/10

I remember watching this back from in the early 00s and it was a bit of a slog. Yet it is finely crafted.