He'd kill us if he had the chance.
A 1974 movie -character study and thriller - written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola between The Godfather I and II. Gene Hackman is Harry Caul, a surveillance expert who's been hired to record the conversations of a couple. He becomes personally involved in the situation while going over the tapes, against his firmly-held principles of not caring why he's been hired. Caul is a repressed, isolated man, an amateur jazz musician who is paranoid and concerned with his own privacy to the exclusion of all else. "It seems very solitudinous and so heartbreakingly alone (Coppola)."
The technology used by Caul was made to look more low-tech than it could have been, according to the sound designer. Hal Lipset, a consultant on the film, said that people at the top of the craft made all of their own equipment using bits and pieces.
The Conversation is Coppola's original screenplay written in the mid-60s, and inspired by the works of Hesse (esp. Steppenwolf), Tennessee Williams, as well as Hitchcock. It is his favorite personal movie, i.e., of the ones that came from his idea, from his own screenplay. This was exactly the kind of filmmaker he wanted to be - someone who made films from his own screenplay, that centered on one character in the European tradition (like Carlo Ponti), in which you explore a theme, idea, or technique that may be innovative. Coppola also considers Conversation to be his best personal movie, and knows that it wouldn't have been made without his success with the Godfather.
The DVD has worthy extra features, especially the excellent audio commentary by Coppola, in which he focuses on the creative origins and context of Conversation, and explains why he did certain things and explored certain themes. He mentions that he "went to some length to uncover the real tools and approaches that (surveillance experts) would use," and the movie includes a wiretapping convention along with the tools that were currently used at the time. Coppola's commentary was done in 2000, at the age of 61.
There is also a commentary by film editor Walter Murch, which I haven't seen yet, and a "Close-Up on The Conversation" featurette. The DVD is in widescreen, with scene selections, a theatrical trailer, subtitles, interactive menus, and French mono. The soundtrack is entirely the piano.
Gene Hackman ...Harry Caul
John Cazale ...Stan, Caul's assistant
Allen Garfield ...Bernie Moran
Cindy Williams ...Ann
Frederic Forrest ...Mark
Michael Higgins (I) ...Paul
Elizabeth MacRae ...Meredith
Teri Garr ...Amy
Harrison Ford ...Martin Stett, the director's assistant
With a brief appearance by Robert Duvall as the director
A very good essay on Conversation, which I discovered after doing this write-up, is at http://www.geraldpeary.com/essays/the/the_conversation.html.