A Perfect 70s Mystery Thriller Paranoid Classic by a Legendary Director
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
As a regular listener, I can’t believe I never looked at 1974 The conversation. Written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, The conversation it’s a straight-up neo-noir mystery that will make any audiophile want to immediately start tinkering with its setup to see what it’s capable of. If you find yourself sitting in that camp, though, make a mistake, because you never know what kind of conversations you’re going to get into, or what kind of problems they might get you into.
From a technical point of view, The conversation it’s a good watch even for those who don’t care about sound engineering at all, because you’re never bombarded with unnecessary voices or those scary science fiction explanations that often ruin movies like this. There’s poetry in every switch flip and dial turn, each one bringing you closer to the truth as a strange conspiracy begins to take shape without giving away the whole farm in advance.
Not the Private Eye, But the Private Ear
The conversation it wastes no time in establishing its conflict as we are introduced to Harry R. Caul (Gene Hackman), a savant-like surveillance expert whose reputation teleports his subjects and records his findings. Haunted by a previous investigation in which his work led to three murders, Harry is a very private man, and is a painstakingly meticulous person. He has to maintain a strong level of emotional detachment due to the nature of his job, but his conscience has a tendency to creep in when it’s too easy.
When his client, known only as the Director (Robert Duvall), is assigned to eavesdrop on a couple walking around Union Square, Harry’s intelligence becomes clear. He uses multiple microphones planted in various locations to capture bits of wandering conversation, all with the goal of later combining the recordings to form a single, uninterrupted conversation.
While parting dialogue is buried under a sea of immutability, one sentence slowly emerges from the noise: “He would kill us if he had the chance.” Disturbed by what he finds, Harry tries to seek an explanation from the Director, but is caught by Martin Stett (Harrison Ford), the Director’s guarded and menacing assistant. Fearing that his work may once again result in innocent bloodshed, Harry finds himself caught between his talent, his trade, and his conscience, struggling to help his client while facing the possibility that bystanders may be in real danger.
Not What, How
Francis Ford Coppola was smart enough to lean on him Of Conversation technical aspects without alienating the audience by over-explaining. Thanks to Gene Hackman’s painstaking handling of the complex sound technology, we are shown a workflow that reveals a great deal about Harry’s personality without a single line of exposition. The muscle memory on display as he taps tape, wires home-made EQ boxes, and frantically hunts around his workstation to dial in the right amount of clarity before delivering his findings to the Director makes for surprisingly rich character research. Harry playing the hell out of his saxophone as a way to vent when he’s depressed is icing on the cake.
Of Conversation the mystery itself is full of twists and turns that force you to question where everyone’s loyalties lie, and where Harry fits into the bigger picture. This isn’t a very traditional whodunit like “who’s going to do it?” and that difference is important. The tension comes from watching Harry slowly realize that he may not just be a spectator, but a participant, while his paranoia feels justified. The added uneasiness at the thought that other surveillance experts might be listening in on him also heightens the fear, leaving you wondering which tapes will end up in the wrong hands as Harry tries to close the job without blood on his hands.
The conversation currently streaming on Prime Video.
