Rating: 
Summary: What's All the Fuss About??
Review: I think Gene Hackman is a wonderful actor and does not disappoint in this movie. But the movie itself is not at all like a Hitchcock film; I don't understand the comparison. It is slow-moving and lacks suspense. I know what Coppola was trying to do, show that the listener was now the one being listened to, but it didn't play well. His character is difficult to like. Harrison Ford shows up in a small role, but even that does not save this movie. You'd be better off skipping this one; another example of critics offering too much praise for a film.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Great Film of the '70s
Review: When I watch the Conversation, I am reminded of that other '70s classic, Mean Streets. Both have some of our best talent in their younger years, both have that same cinema verite spirit of just letting the scene go on, even if some find it boring or uncomfortable, and both of them seem to have been made on a shoestring budget. Where Scorcese scores just a little bit higher, for me, is that I feel he incorporates the music into Mean Streets more, and has a few more threads and subplots to keep our attention. I think part of the reason some may find this movie boring is that essentially the Hackman character is the film - we don't really care about the other people in the surveillance business (they seem like pompous jerks), nor do the young couple in the park really seem that interesting. (The exception is the John Cazale character, who is more sympathetic and human). Hackman is superb, however, and we find in his character a man who has learned the hard way to mind his own business and shut himself off from the rest of the world - but of course, his humanity gets the better of him. One aspect of the movie that I find interesting is that it would appear he was right in his paranoia - if it is true that he is not necessarily happy at the beginning of the movie, he is a miserable shambles of a man at the end. This is a good movie, with a great performance by Hackman, and some pretty good bonus features. I would recommend it to fans of Hackman or '70s cinema.
Rating: 
Summary: In A Word: Enthralling
Review: Very well-made thriller. Gene Hackman is subperb as Harry Caul, a professional "bug-man" with a sorrowful past. He gets close to people for a living (by bugging their conversations), yet he is unable to allow anyone in his personal life get close to him. I think Hackman's performance was deserving of an Oscar nomination, but the competition was fierce in '74. This is an ecellent film with a terrific ending. Buy it, you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Eerie and Very Unsettling
Review: (Spoiler Warning) I saw this film on TV the other night and I now know why it is considered to be such a classic. I have to admit that I was bored in the beginning because it takes a very very long time to unfold...in fact I was starting to fall asleep during the very long, quiet, wordless sequence when Gene Hackman gets the hotel room...but as soon as he saw that bloody body pressed up against the window, accompanied by a terrifying chord on the soundtrack, I was wide awake! My heart was in my throat! Coppola specifically catches you off guard so that he can really scare the hell out of you. The final fifteen minutes are also very scary in a different way, by getting under your skin. As Hackman tears apart his apartment, looking for a bug that may only be in his mind, the tremendously eerie score creeps onto the soundtrack. It's a fantastic, very frightening way to end the film.
Rating:
Summary: A unique masterpiece worthy of repeated viewings.
Review: This is a brilliant and engrossing mystery-suspense gem from writer-director Francis Ford Coppola (THE GODFATHER). Complex plot of professional wire-tapper Hackman trying to solve a murder is worth it just to catch the ironic conclusion. A superior little thriller.
Rating:
Summary: The Conversation is still relevant
Review: There is something about Hackman, slouched in his rumpled clear plastic raincoat; something in the sense of isolation, of despair and hopelessness so deep that he has ceased noticing. He's like a homeless man - the kind you pretend not to notice when you walk past. That he happens to have a place to live and plenty of money is beside the point. Hackman's character is broken, lonely, used up, empty. He so desperately needs validation...and he will never get it.Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation is not so much a thriller as a deconstruction of the thriller genre. As embodied by Gene Hackman, surveillance expert Harry Caul is an archetype: he is Late 20th-Century American Man. He is the result of the dislocation between the decent impulses of a traditional upbringing and the demands of the cold, bloodless technological age in which he must operate. Harry is hired by "the director" (Robert Duvall), a man who sits at the top of a large, faceless corporation (we don't know what they do, but it's irrelevant, anyway). His job is to record a seemingly innocuous conversation between a man and woman as they walk through Union Square in San Francisco. Against his better judgment, Harry becomes personally interested in the contents of the conversation. He becomes convinced that the recording, if he turns it in and collects his hefty fee, will lead to murder. What should he do? The plot sets up a dilemma that could describe quite a bit of American history for the past 40 years - Harry can prosper through the questionable use of technology (and quite possibly at the expense of some lives), or he can Do The Right Thing at potentially great expense to himself. As a Roman Catholic, he needs to rid himself of guilt and seek redemption. But as an ordinary man, shell-shocked by accelerating technological and moral change, he possesses an equally strong desire to withdraw. The irony only comes clear in the celebrated twist ending, which exists not simply to provide a clever plot device, but to underline a powerful moral argument. It would be easy to say that argument is about privacy, or technology, or the abuse of power. Easy but only partly true. What The Conversation really argues is the folly of trying to intervene in a situation one does not fully comprehend. In this respect, it echoes America's involvement in Vietnam. In the years since, much of America has become even more detached, cynical, and withdrawn; more Harry Caul-like than ever. The moral dilemmas we face now are even more daunting (what to do about teen violence, for example). And the stakes of intervening without fully understanding are even greater. In this way, The Conversation is even more relevant now than when it was released.
Rating:
Summary: the conversation
Review: this is a great movie... it's about a man who makes a living spying on people, but finally gives into ethics... the direction by francis ford coppola is absolutely amazing and heightens the inner battle that is going on inside the main characters mind... if you want a good movie from the 70s, see this one because it is just as good as any other famous movies coppola did at this time that you might be much more familiar with (if you don't know which ones i speak of, see this movie and the godfather parts i and ii)
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This movie was a true work of art. I felt it was a true sign that one didn't have to use, or go through the usual techniques to make this a masterpiece. I noticed someone mentioning it was similar to a Hitchcock suspence. I couldn't agree more. Suspence or spooky music, and crafty angles are often all that's needed for success. The type of music that is played I feel is always critical. If you enjoyed this flick than I highly recommend another one that is often overlooked. This movie is "Klute" with Jane Fonda&Donald Sutherland.
Rating:
Summary: Great suspense and movie!
Review: The Conversation is an excellent movie. It combines a lot of suspense with a good story line that just doesn't stop. Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert, best in his field, in the throws of insanity. When a routine recording of two people in a park seem just a little too strange, Hackman who normally takes a disinterested stand in his work begins to read into it. He starts listening to the recordings and avoids the client. Already paranoid and living a reclusive life, his sanity begins to crumble as the tapes contents, the people, and the conversation play on his psyche. He begins to doubt everyone he meets and the entire movie takes a "Rear Window" type of feel. I definately recomend this to anyone who likes nail chewing, high suspense without the corny dialog movies. A lot of the movie will have you on the edge of your seat and there won't be a sound! Definately a great movie, even for the 70's!
Rating:
Summary: Never fails to amaze
Review: In the 27 years since this film was made, the language of cinema has not moved forward one iota from the standard set here. Hackman's internal performance works masterfully within the context of the picture. The comentary tracks are among the best. This may be the best DVD available.
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