A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of
conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be
murdered.
When people talk about Francis Ford Coppola, they usually mention The Godfathers or Apocalypse now, however to me The Conversation is an equal film in it's own right. There is an atmosphere captured in this film that reaches further than just another Hitchcockian thriller, and which manages to portray a realistic depiction of loneliness and suspicion in perfect timing to the plot. Gene Hackman said that he used a sinister bloke he was in the army with as inspiration for his role and he manages to nail the morally troubled paranoia of Harry Caul perfectly. Even though the supporting cast is strong, and features Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall and John Cazale in small roles, most of them under play it to leave their intentions ambiguous and Caul's imagination running wild. David Shire's solo piano score is the glue that solidifies this to me as one of my favourite films, and yet apparently the ending still remains a mystery to even Coppola and the movie's editor, Walter Murch.
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