Film #20 of 'It's June Jim, but not as we know it'

If you put a couple of masterpieces to your name there's always the risk that your lesser known work doesn't get the attention it deserves. This is most definitely the case with Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.

This is a fantastic, paranoia induced thriller. The opening three minutes betray a filmmaker bursting at the seams with confidence. That one take is a thing of beauty. The camera slowly makes its way to our protagonist, the amazing Gene Hackman (whom I greatly miss in my films these days). He is surveying the titular conversation here, an opening scene bristling with ideas, an amalgamation of sight and sound bordering on…

Made in-between the epic and sprawling Godfather saga, The Conversation is a far smaller affair from Coppola but no less fascinating. In fact this intimate character study wrapped up in a conspiracy thriller veneer may well be my favourite Francis Ford Coppola film which is high praise indeed. The ever reliable Gene Hackman stars as Harry Caul, a private (in more ways than one) surveillance expert who, in a paranoid crisis of conscience, believes the lives of his latest marks may be in danger.

The Conversation is a film steeped in the paranoia of the times, from the Watergate scandal to the uncertainty of the Cold War, the ‘70s was a period of suspicion and fear. Harry is a fascinating…

I'm starting to discover that I really enjoy a lot of films from the 1970's. The Conversation is a truly original concept and story, filled with fully realized characters and breathtaking visuals. I was expecting a pretty straightforward crime thriller, but it's much more personal and intimate than it seems in the beginning because of the psychological element. Francis Ford Coppola takes the time to make you care about the issues and people involved.

Gene Hackman is fantastic as the troubled and paranoid surveillance expert Harry Caul. The story surrounds one of his jobs decrypting a conversation between a young couple. Harry doesn't know why he's been tasked with making their words crystal clear through the noise of the bustling…

''He'll Kill ya if he gets the chance..."

'The Conversation' is a film that I saw for the first time last year, after a long and anxious wait. It lived up to my expectations and is a film I regularly think about due to its eerie climax. I decided it was about time for a rewatch so I purchased the Blu Ray of eBay, I didn't think it was possible, but I appreciated the film even more this time around.

'The Conversation' is masterfully orchestrated by Francis Ford Coppola, I truly believe this film to be one of the most unsettling and suspenseful films ever made, and Coppola never resorts to anything more than dialogue and his central characters mindset…

He'd kill us if he got the chance.
-Mark

Considering how many times I've seen The Godfather: Part I and Part II it's almost surreal to finally watch the one film Francis Ford Coppola made between them. I knew it was regarded as a great film, but I had no idea I would end up loving it this much. I had no business taking part in any conversation about Coppola's greatest works until tonight.

The fantastic cast includes the likes of John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Teri Garr and Harrison Ford just to name a few, but it hardly matters. Their presence in the film is dwarfed by Gene Hackman's performance as Harry Caul. The introverted Caul is said to be…

The Conversation has been high up on my watchlist for ages now but I never really got around to seeing it until now and the long wait for what was said to be one of Coppola's great masterpieces was certainly worth it. Being released in the same year as The Godfather: Part II first thoughts would probably be along the lines of “throwaway project”, a small little movie acting as a vehicle for the director to take his mind off a big epic he is working on. It's neither the first nor the last time to happen and like Wong Kar-Wai did in 1994 with Chungking Express, the small project that this film was turned out to be one of…

Film #20 of 'It's June Jim, but not as we know it'

If you put a couple of masterpieces to your name there's always the risk that your lesser known work doesn't get the attention it deserves. This is most definitely the case with Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.

This is a fantastic, paranoia induced thriller. The opening three minutes betray a filmmaker bursting at the seams with confidence. That one take is a thing of beauty. The camera slowly makes its way to our protagonist, the amazing Gene Hackman (whom I greatly miss in my films these days). He is surveying the titular conversation here, an opening scene bristling with ideas, an amalgamation of sight and sound bordering on…

Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 film, released smack bang between The Godfather & The Godfather Part II, stars Gene Hackman as a secretive surveillance, erm, guy. He becomes all guilty when he starts to think the people he's spying on could be murdered based on the work he's been hired to do.

Although it's good, it's not really at the same level as his films that came before and after it. Hackman is very good, as you would expect. He comes across as both paranoid and proud perfectly. You understand that he doesn't share his personal life with people because he's obsessed with the notion that people like him will be listening to and monitoring everything said. Quite topical then given the…

''He'll Kill ya if he gets the chance..."

'The Conversation' is a film that I saw for the first time last year, after a long and anxious wait. It lived up to my expectations and is a film I regularly think about due to its eerie climax. I decided it was about time for a rewatch so I purchased the Blu Ray of eBay, I didn't think it was possible, but I appreciated the film even more this time around.

'The Conversation' is masterfully orchestrated by Francis Ford Coppola, I truly believe this film to be one of the most unsettling and suspenseful films ever made, and Coppola never resorts to anything more than dialogue and his central characters mindset…