The Conversation (1974) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The worst thing that can ever happen is realizing privacy is nonexistent. The big question we should have when it comes down to it is wondering what to do with that revelation.


PLOT


1974’s The Conversation takes place in San Francisco and follows surveillance expert Harry Caul who specializes in audio recordings. As he prefers to obsessively live reclusively, dating a lady at arms length named Amy (Teri Garr), he claims to not be responsible for what his clients do with his works but actually has guilt of a past job that caused three deaths. With the help of fellow expert Stanley Ross (John Cazale), he is assigned by an employer known as 'The Director' to eavesdrop on a couple, Mark & Ann (Frederic Forrest & Cindy Williams) in Union Square in circles. Harry is later able to filter the background and merge tapes to make a clear recording. He meets the Director's assistant Martin Stett, and refuses to give the tapes to anyone that isn't the Director. This leads to him keeping it and later listening to it again, hearing the phrase "He'd kill us if he got the chance'. When trying to turn in the tapes, he would emphasize his demand for the Director. When leaving, he'd be briefly followed. At a convention centered on surveillance technology, Stett meets him to promise he'll see the Director if he turns in the tapes. Following the event does he have a small party with Stan and some coworkers, and he spends the night with another lady named Michelle (Elizabeth MacRae). When he wakes up, he doesn't find her there and the tapes missing. Stett then calls to explain they were taken on the behalf of the Director who couldn't wait any longer, promising to pay if he returns to the office. As he collects his payment, he does see the Director in person disgruntled as he listens to the tape, connecting the dot that the lady he eavesdropped was his wife involved in an affair. Suspecting a murder, Harry books a hotel room next to the couple's rendezvous he remembers from the recording. When hearing an argument on the other side, he breaks into it and the evidence he finds is blood clogged in the toilet. He tries to confront the Director, but finds the wife & unharmed, and reads a news report of an executive dying in a car accident; Harry does connect that his employer was killed by the couple and realizes the double connection of how the couple were feared of being caught over the affair and wanting to kill defensively. Stett then calls him as a warning to not investigate, but that only motivates him to confirm he's been recorded when listening to one of his saxophone recordings. When unable to find the recording bug after ransacking the whole apartment, the film ends with him paying his sax again amid the amid the wreckage.


THOUGHTS


Francis Ford Coppola had the world in his hands when helming the first two Godfather movies that won Best Picture in the 70s back to back. In between that, he got to direct a mystery thriller that is only getting better as it is getting older which is not easy for any kind of film. It is through this film where it establishes a big debate that I don't think enough people are talking about. Surveillance technology is definitely a breakthrough in its own right because it's the kind of invention not thought to have been possible until it was made. Knowing how much it has evolved over the years, the question has came about on if this technology is worth existing and if it should've ever to begin with. The privacy we have is what differs us from others and feel safe when alone. So when that gets taken from us from modern agencies like the NSA, it does make the wonder if there is any humanity left in ourselves. As that is a layer of questions that don't have legit answers, what Coppola also teaches as a writer of this story is that there must always be responsibility for any actions good or bad. That is what you pick up on when following Harry Caul's unconventional journey. Gene Hackman felt like a one man show through this lead because he's focused on understanding the truth of his work. He does see the double standard of wanting to be proud of what he does while still demanding his privacy to be respected. He's so stern with wanting to give his work to the Director personally because that's how much he wants his business to be respected and not looked down on. With Harrison Ford giving a skeptic tone as Stett before we finally see Robert Duvall as an angry figure who has motives that abuse his privacy, the paranoia was all valid for Caul to delay submitting. Even before he was sure he was being surveilled, the cinematography by Bill Butler & Haskell Wexler emphasizes how he always was god knows how long. The ending speaks for itself in boldness because not only does it say the experts can be outwitted when least expected, but it justifies the protagonist's fears of the watcher being watched. He keeps on playing his sax after this revelation because it's all he has left for himself. However he figures to regain his privacy is up to him, especially on whether he can pass that knowledge to others that deserve it. In short, The Conversation is a provocative film ahead of its time for exploring a subject no one was ready for and becomes bigger as it gets louder, earning its Best Picture nomination in the process. If those are the kind of movies you prefer, see this now.