By Todd Garbarini
The Conversation (1974), the best film that Francis Ford Coppola has ever
made, begins with a bird's-eye view of a crowd of people in San Francisco's
Union Square. The camera slowly and
decisively zeroes in on specific people moving about, such as a mime (Robert
Shields of the “Shields and Yarnell†television show from 1977-1978 and one of
the world's greatest mimes) and eventually rests on our protagonist, Harry
Caul, a wire tapper and surveillance expert played by Gene Hackman in one of
his best screen performances. From the
film's very first frame, this is a movie about seeing and listening without
being detected. It's also about deeper
issues such as guilt, paranoia, responsibility, absolution and redemption,
themes that were common to American cinema in the 1970's during the Watergate
scandal and the Vietnam era. What is
even more amazing is the fact that The
Conversation is a film that most contemporary audiences have never even heard
of.
Originally written in the 1960's, The Conversation was filmed in late 1972 and early 1973 in San
Francisco when the city was gripped by the Zodiac murders. It was released in the spring of 1974. The complete flip side of Jimmy
"Popeye" Doyle, another brilliant performance by Mr. Hackman in
William Friedkin's Oscar-winning The
French Connection (1971), Harry is a quiet, lonely, and deliberately
withdrawn man with literally no friends, no attachments, and no hobbies to
speak of, except playing his saxophone to his jazz records. His cinematic brethren would appear to be
Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's Taxi
Driver (1976) and Jimmy Angelleli in James Toback's Fingers (1978), both masterful studies of troubled individuals. Many films during the 1970s dealt with
withdrawn middle-aged men, but Harry wants
to be alone. Even his brief interlude
with his sometime girlfriend Amy, played wonderfully by Teri Garr, is awkward
and sad. He pays her rent, lies to her
about his age and what he does for a living, and is made uncomfortable when she
asks him simple questions about his life. David Shire, Mr. Coppola’s former brother-in-law, provides a brilliantly
quiet piano score that enunciates Harry’s aloof nature.
The winner of the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in
1974, The Conversation was also
nominated for Best Picture opposite Mr. Coppola's own The Godfather Part II. It
also boasts some phenomenal supporting work. The first is by the late great actor John Cazale as Stan, Harry’s inquisitive
partner. Mr. Cazale had the unique
distinction of appearing in only five motion pictures, all of which were
nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards: The Godfather (1972) and The
Godfather Part II (he played Fredo Corleone), Dog Day Afternoon in 1975 (he played Sal), and The Deer Hunter in 1978 (he played Stan). He passed away from bone cancer in March 1978
just after completing the latter, Michael Cimino’s controversial Vietnam War
film. The other standout is Allen Garfield as
Harry’s most aggressive competitor, William P. Moran, who makes every effort to
one-up Harry by touting his own surveillance accomplishments and wearing them
as a badge of honor. Originally
appearing in some of Brian De Palma’s early work, Mr. Garfield has carved out a
niche for himself as one of America’s greatest character actors. He shines as the obsequious ball-breaker to
Harry’s superlative wiretapping talents, going so far as to suggest that they
become partners, an offer that Harry flatly refuses (perhaps Moran should have
brought Luca Brasi as hired heat). The
rest of the cast consists of Robert Duvall as the director who sanctions the
audio recordings; Cindy Williams and Frederic Forest who play the couple
targeted by Harry’s eavesdropping techniques and Harrison Ford as Martin Stett,
the director’s assistant. Look quickly
for Billy Dee Williams in the close-up crowd scenes - he's wearing a yellow
hat. The priest whom Harry confesses his
sins to is Richard Hackman, Gene Hackman’s brother.
The Conversation is a film that makes you think. Lionsgate, the folks behind 2010’s
extraordinary Blu-ray release of Mr. Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), has amassed a number of great extras for
this edition including the following features imported from the previous DVD
release:
- · Francis Ford Coppola Commentary
- · Walter Murch Commentary
- · Close-Up On The
Conversation" featurette
The
following extras are exclusive to this new edition and make it worthy of the
upgrade in addition to the high definition transfer:
- · Screen test with Cindy Williams as Amy
from November 9, 1972
- · Screen test with Harrison Ford as Mark
from November 8, 1972
- · “No Cigar†archival short film by
Francis Ford Coppola
- · “Harry Caul’s San Francisco†featurette
that compares the filming locations from 1973 and 2011
- · Interview with composer David Shire in
2011
- · On-set interview with Gene Hackman from
February 12, 1973
- Archival audio of Francis Ford Coppola
dictating (writing) the original script in 1972
The Conversation is Mr. Coppola's masterpiece and is every bit as
multilayered as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
(1960), with a revelation during its denouement that is just as shocking. It belongs in the film library of any serious
cineaste and is emblematic of the kind of filmmaking we are not likely to see
from a major studio ever again.
Let's just hope that someone gets around to releasing The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television on Blu-ray.
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