The Conversation

Inconspicuously situated between The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II in director Francis Ford Coppola's filmography, The Conversation is inarguably one of the finest thrillers of the 1970s. Starring Gene Hackman in a highly memorable performance, the compelling, paranoia-fueled movie serves as a headier and creepier counterpart to the actor's more kinetic French Connection films, effectively setting up an engaging, measured pace and chillingly claustrophobic atmosphere. Dour, determined, and often donning his signature translucent raincoat, Hackman's Harry Caul is an obsessive surveillance expert who generally interacts with other people only by eavesdropping on them. After completing the tricky assignment of recording an ambiguous public exchange between a man and a woman, Caul gets roped into some shady proceedings, and he's none too happy about it. While The Conversation would be a high point in any filmmaker's career, it is unfairly overshadowed by The Godfather and its sequel, along with the other production in Coppola's stunning ‘70s run, a little movie called Apocalypse Now. Easily the subtlest of all four films, The Conversation lacks the flash and overt drama of those cinema classics, but, in the confines of its own intriguing parameters, it's also a masterpiece.