Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Tuesday, February 14, 2017

A 1974 Listening Device


The Conversation Seems Older Than It Is

Horse-and-buggy thriller from day when folks used pay telephones and reel-to-reel tape recorders, The Conversation looks to youth as Biograph shorts would for rest of us. The Conversation was referred to as an "art" film by marketers and audiences who sought to disparage it, Paramount stuck with distributing the thing so they could have more of Mafia shoot-ups from director Francis Coppolla, who did this between his first two Godfathers. Coppolla had co-formed a boutique firm with hot helmsmen (Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin) to make stuff most of a public wouldn't warm to. "The Director's Company" came afoul of internal conflict and ultimate collapse --- imagine these egos in a give-take situation, which was needed if the firm could thrive. The Conversation was no grievous flop, but Godfather grosses weren't had here, Coppola needing them to keep flow of studio blank checks. He'd next make partial artie of The Godfather's sequel, a letdown for viewers who preferred more of 1972 same, result grosses below half of what Corleones took a first time out.


The Conversation was shades of import hit Blow-Up from earlier (1966), but latter had sex, Euro novelty to overcome balky narrative. The Conversation was loner Gene Hackman tailing strangers for a faceless authority who may be planning murder, an angle that under livelier circumstance might make a good thriller, but it's mood Coppola was after, not movement. To that he succeeds, Hackman going about drab business of audio snooping with equipment we'd call hopelessly outdated, or to be kinder, charmingly quaint. There, then, is enhanced interest for The Conversation, reminder that life and making furtive living was a very different proposition in what was then thought of as modern times. This is one that could be effectively remade today on digital terms, a latter-day Hackman hacking his targets with devices unimaginable in 1974, but could such revisit maintain Coppola's restraint otherwise?


Best scenes are where least is happening, Hackman wandering among dealers at a surveillance trade show (do these still thrive?), inviting colleagues to his nerve center for listening in. The Conversation was meant to alarm us for how easy it was to be overheard, privacy a thing easily invaded and soon to disappear altogether as technology penetrated walls. How forward-seeing it was in that respect, what with modern surrender to an Internet that detects our every move, in or outside homes no longer barrier to intrusion. The Conversation was lumped among a cycle of "paranoid" pics and done years before such paranoia became simple and accepted reality of life. Was Coppola anticipating what would happen to us all in the 21st century? Seen in that sense, The Conversation is stern warning of hardship our tech gadgets would ultimately bring on. Could any 70's writer or director foresee the day our televisions would silently monitor viewing, buying, and social habits? Only difference now, it doesn't need a Gene Hackman to breech boundaries. We've willingly let these Wurdelaks in.

8 Comments:

Blogger Dave K said...

Great piece! Revisited this terrific picture last year, first time in decades. Much better than I remembered. Box office notwithstanding, Coppolla's hat trick of GODFATHER, THE CONVERSATION and GODFATHER II back to back is flat out amazing. Like you, I love all the convention stuff, especially enjoyed the unstated hierarchy of the professionals. Great film!

11:52 AM  
Blogger Kevin K. said...

Terrific movie -- and can you imagine an actor with a mug like Hackman's in the lead role of any studio movie today? It's a good thing he (and Spencer Tracy) made movies in more accepting times.

1:52 PM  
Blogger rnigma said...

I seem to recall an attempt at a TV series based on "The Conversation," sometime within the last 20 years, and a pilot was shot but it never sold.

2:18 PM  
Blogger radiotelefonia said...

A great film. I saw it more than 30 years ago and shortly after, Coppola went on an interview on Mexican television and stated that this one was his favorite. The technology displayed is essentially obsolete, but it is the foundation of what we have today. The ending is memorable.

6:02 PM  
Blogger DBenson said...

Some before-they-were-famous casting that jumps out now: Harrison Ford and Cindy Williams were the couple Hackman was listening to. While checking to confirm my memory I see that Teri Garr was in there as well.

In a slightly different universe, I see the film being marketed as a sexy thriller about Ford and Williams, "the stars from American Graffitti".

5:47 PM  
Blogger Rick said...

It is a great, great movie. Showed it to my 24 year old son about a year back and he was duly impressed. He called me a week or so later asking for the name of that "eavesdropping movie". He wanted to recommend it to friends.

But Donald Benson's I.D. of the actors is slightly off. The young couple was Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest (not Harrison Ford). But Ford is in there elsewhere as Robert Duvall's studly (and seemingly gay) young assistant.

8:08 PM  
Blogger stinky fitzwizzle said...

And let's not forget the terrific John Cazale and Allan Garfield.

12:34 PM  
Blogger Lionel Braithwaite said...

@Kevin K: Ever heard of Phillip Seymour Hoffman? Or Jonah Hill? Or Jack Black? All of those men are (were in Hoffman's case) toplining movies.

@rnigma: There was indeed a pilot for a TV show of The Conversation, but yes, it did not sell.

4:05 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024