The Conversation (1974)

NEUTRAL

Various

92%

1974, Mystery & thriller, 1h 53m

RT Critics’ Score: 97% (UNBIASED)
RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 3 Oscars
14 wins & 16 nominations total

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Critics Consensus

This tense, paranoid thriller presents Francis Ford Coppola at his finest — and makes some remarkably advanced arguments about technology’s role in society that still resonate today.

Audience Consensus

The Conversation” is a movie that will make you want to eavesdrop on every conversation you hear. It’s a thrilling ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. Gene Hackman’s performance is top-notch, and the sound editing is so good that you’ll feel like you’re right there with him, listening in on every word. It’s a must-see for anyone who loves a good mystery and wants to feel like a spy for a couple of hours. Just make sure you watch it on a big screen with good sound, or you’ll miss out on the full experience!

Storyline

Harry Caul is a devout Catholic and a lover of jazz music who plays his saxophone while listening to his jazz records. He is a San Francisco-based electronic surveillance expert who owns and operates his own small surveillance business. He is renowned within the profession as being the best, one who designs and constructs his own surveillance equipment. He is an intensely private and solitary man in both his personal and professional life, which especially irks Stan, his business associate who often feels shut out of what is happening with their work. This privacy, which includes not letting anyone into his apartment and always telephoning his clients from pay phones is, in part, intended to control what happens around him. His and Stan’s latest job (a difficult one) is to record the private discussion of a young couple meeting in crowded and noisy Union Square. The arrangement with his client, known only to him as “the director”, is to provide the audio recording of the discussion and photographs of the couple directly to him alone in return for payment. Based on circumstances with the director’s assistant, Martin Stett, and what Harry ultimately hears on the recording, Harry believes that the lives of the young couple are in jeopardy. Harry used to be detached from what he recorded, but is now concerned ever since the deaths of three people that were the direct result of a previous audio recording he made for another job. Harry not only has to decide if he will turn the recording over to the director, but also if he will try and save the couple’s lives using information from the recording. As Harry goes on a quest to find out what exactly is happening on this case, he finds himself in the middle of his worst nightmare.

Production Company(ies)
Therapy Content Roswell Films,

Distributor
Paramount Pictures

Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)

Filming Location(s)
American Roofing Co. Building – 297 Kansas Street, Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

MPAA / Certificate
PG

Year of Release
1974

Technical Specs

Color:

Color
Sound mix:

Mono
Aspect ratio:

1.85 : 1
Runtime:

1h 53m
Language(s):

English
Country of origin:

United States
Release date:

Release Date (Theaters): Apr 7, 1974 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 17, 2010

Genre(s)
Mystery & thriller

Keyword(s)
starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Frederic Forrest, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Michael Higgins, Harrison Ford, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Francis Ford Coppola, mystery, thriller, PG, box office gross $114.8K, reviewed by Michael Phillips, Kenneth Turan, Ed Potton, Adam Nayman, Michael Sragow, Radheyan Simonpillai, Matt Brunson, Dennis Harvey, Sean Burns, Josh Larsen, Ray Pride, Neely Swanson

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $4,658,878
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $30,871,556
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,535
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 3,366,582

US/Canada gross: $4,638,109
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $30,733,933
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,267
US/Canada opening weekend: $5,494
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $36,405
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,300

Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,600,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $10,602,229
Production budget ranking: 1,646
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $5,709,300
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $14,560,027
ROI to date (est.): 89%
ROI ranking: 982

Cast & Crew

Gene Hackman

John Cazale

Frederic Forrest

Allen Garfield

Cindy Williams

Harry Caul

Stan

Mark

William P. “Bernie” Moran

Ann

Gene Hackman – Harry Caul
John Cazale – Stan
Frederic Forrest – Mark
Allen Garfield – William P. “Bernie” Moran
Cindy Williams – Ann
Michael Higgins – Paul

Francis Ford Coppola

Director

Writer

Producer

Director(s)
Francis Ford Coppola

Writer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola

Producer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola

Film Festivals

Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 3 Oscars
14 wins & 16 nominations total

Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Michael Phillips

Kenneth Turan

Ed Potton

Adam Nayman

Michael Sragow

Chicago Tribune

Los Angeles Times

Times (UK)

The Ringer

New Yorker

THE CONVERSATION
All Critics (65) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (2)
Its enveloping chill feels, looks and – crucially, in a story about a man who eavesdrops for a living – sounds as arresting as ever.

January 28, 2022 | Rating: 4/4

Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
“The Conversation” truly feels both timeless and of the moment.

January 27, 2022

Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Set against a claustrophobic backdrop of post-Watergate paranoia, Coppola’s favourite of his films hinges on the intonation of a single word.

March 1, 2021 | Rating: 5/5

Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Coming after the dark, sumptuous classicism of The Godfather, The Conversation’s choppy, elliptical style looked almost like the work of a different filmmaker, one willing to take risks with new forms and techniques.

April 6, 2020

Adam Nayman
The Ringer
TOP CRITIC
Thanks to Walter Murch’s keen, intuitive sound montage and Hackman’s clammy, subtle performance, the movie captures [an] elusive and universal fear-that of losing the power to respond, emotionally and morally, to the evidence of one’s own senses.

August 15, 2016

Michael Sragow
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
Coppola shows off his arty aspirations by doing for audio technology what Antonioni did for photography. But The Conversation is a different animal entirely, steering clear of the existential dilemmas in Antonioni’s film and creating a character pi

June 11, 2009 | Rating: 93/100

Radheyan Simonpillai
AskMen.com
TOP CRITIC
Very much a piece of its time, snuggling up nicely to other paranoia thrillers like The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor.

April 10, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4

Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
As quiet as its repressed protagonist, The Conversation is an ascetic puzzle that rivets despite defying all conventional genre sensationalism.

February 11, 2022

Dennis Harvey
48 Hills
Sure, I suppose you could stream it. But you know how some movies need to be seen on a big screen? ‘The Conversation’ needs to be heard in an auditorium on the kind of equipment you dont have at home.

February 4, 2022

Sean Burns
The ARTery
…a bravura mixture of sound and editing.

January 29, 2022 | Rating: 4/4

Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
Its hypnotic hold does not flag, no matter how many times you’ve seen it. Surveillance and guilt: secrets and sharers. Its paranoia matches that of any old denizen of our modern world.

January 28, 2022 | Rating: 10/10

Ray Pride
Newcity
For the most part, the acting is quite good. Gene Hackman as Harry is expert at being creepy, voyeuristic, stolid, and vulnerable.

January 26, 2022

Neely Swanson
Easy Reader (California)…

Plot
Harry Caul is a devout Catholic and a lover of jazz music who plays his saxophone while listening to his jazz records. He is a San Francisco-based electronic surveillance expert who owns and operates his own small surveillance business. He is renowned within the profession as being the best, one who designs and constructs his own surveillance equipment. He is an intensely private and solitary man in both his personal and professional life, which especially irks Stan, his business associate who often feels shut out of what is happening with their work. This privacy, which includes not letting anyone into his apartment and always telephoning his clients from pay phones is, in part, intended to control what happens around him. His and Stan’s latest job (a difficult one) is to record the private discussion of a young couple meeting in crowded and noisy Union Square. The arrangement with his client, known only to him as “the director”, is to provide the audio recording of the discussion and photographs of the couple directly to him alone in return for payment. Based on circumstances with the director’s assistant, Martin Stett, and what Harry ultimately hears on the recording, Harry believes that the lives of the young couple are in jeopardy. Harry used to be detached from what he recorded, but is now concerned ever since the deaths of three people that were the direct result of a previous audio recording he made for another job. Harry not only has to decide if he will turn the recording over to the director, but also if he will try and save the couple’s lives using information from the recording. As Harry goes on a quest to find out what exactly is happening on this case, he finds himself in the middle of his worst nightmare.

Trivia