As a Surveillance Expert Analyzes Others, We Analyze Him: A Retro Review for “The Conversation”

Gene Hackman and John Cazale in "The Conversation"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

*With movie theaters closed for the time being, I’m taking this time to review classics that I have yet to see.  I’m going to try to do these Retro Reviews as often as I can until the theaters reopen.  Hope you enjoy them!

The opening scene of writer-director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller, “The Conversation,” engulfs you in paranoia right from the start, having an overheard shot from high off of the ground that slowly descends upon a park.  With this shot, cinematographer Bill Butler, who had worked with Coppola five years prior on “The Rain People,” presents all of the unease of knowing, or feeling like someone is spying on you, whether it be from a close or far distance.  This is a masterful shot that brings us into a story of the main character going from being the watcher to the watched.

Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is a surveillance expert who develops an obsession over recordings of a mysterious conversation between two people in a park  His fixation with these tapes soon lead to an ethical dilemma that causes him to call his years of work into question.

Hackman gives a performance where he shows his character’s sense of wanting to be closed off, making us work when trying to figure out what seems to be troubling him.  While he shuts himself away from others and shows intense focus on his work, there’s an understated sense of turmoil that we see simmering underneath Harry, and Hackman displays his character’s penchant for always trying to remain calm, even when the pressure from his work starts to break him.  There's a sense of remorse that Hackman provides his character, and the fact that he's so low-key with that feeling makes us think even harder about what could have happened to Harry in the past that made him feel this way.  It's a superb example of how much strength can be emitted from a restrained performance.

Backing up Hackman’s work are a few memorable supporting roles from John Cazale as Harry’s assistant who does his best to reach out to him; Allen Garfield as a surveillance equipment salesmen who’s sneaky in trying to get Hackman to admit the details of his past; Robert Duvall as “The Director,” a client of Harry’s; and Harrison Ford as “The Director”’s assistant.  All four of these performances help you experience the mounting discomfort that Harry feels when others interfere with his work, whether they mean well or not.

While Coppola’s screenplay is a thriller, the movie is also a strong character study that focuses on Harry’s profession as he grapples with trying to solve the mystery behind his recordings and coming to terms with a troubled past that has thrown his work into doubt.  This is a narrative that has a strong sense of focus as it has one focus on the surface, with Harry analyzing the recordings; then, underneath, there’s a focus about him dealing with his troubles.  Both parts of the story are explored in equal measure and give us an understanding of who Harry is.  Through Harry's interactions with others and the scenes where he's by himself, Coppola doles out a little insight at a time to keep us invested in unraveling the secrets that Harry isn't so easy with disclosing.

As a director, Coppola highlights Harry’s ironic obsession with privacy, despite his character working in surveillance.  Coppola accomplishes this by using many closeups as a way to emphasize Harry’s own privacy being invaded, while also showing him in enclosed spaces to show his fear of being watched.  When we arrive to the final half hour, Coppola unleashes the tension that has been slowly building up during everything that came before.  Coppola’s filmmaking skills create a climactic scene that’s not only shocking, but heartbreaking for the main character.  Coppola’s careful pacing in the exploration into who Harry is elevates this scene to its highest impact because it makes Harry’s arc much more emotional than I anticipated.

What's also notable about Coppola's direction is that, even though there are several supporting characters in the film, he conveys Harry's sense of isolation to such a degree that it oftentimes feels like he's the only character in the film, with all of the other individuals in his life just seeming like they're in the peripheral, or not there at all.  It's an accomplishment that places us right into Harry's mindset and has us feel his debilitating inability to connect with others.

Given Harry's unbreakable focus on his work, Coppola succeeds in absorbing us into the world or surveillance that consumes the main character.  Coppola does so not only with the set design that shows all of the complexities of the equipment in Harry and his team’s makeshift office, but also with the Walter Murch and Art Rochester’s accomplished use of sound that has us hear how the recordings sound to Harry as he listens to them.  This creates an authenticity to the presentation of the surveilled dialogue that has listen carefully to what’s being said, so we, along with Harry, must then pay close attention to hear what their subjects are saying.

With a story that’s compelling, thrilling, and unsettling, “The Conversation” is sure to spark a few after you watch it.

Grade: A