The Conversation

What you hear is not what it appears to be! Harry Caul is a paranoid surveillance expert who is tasked with monitoring a young couple, where he overhears something that makes him obssessively try to deduce if the couple are in danger, only to realize that he has completely misinterpreted the situation. A tense and nail-biting thriller that makes us question our own privacy, we question if we are being watched right in our own living rooms!

Acting and screenplay was excellent, too slow to develop at times but overall well worth the watch

Unless you're a serious film student or dedicated Copola fan, there is nothing here you'll enjoy. Performances by Gene Hackman, John Cazales, Harrison Ford, Terri Garr and a pre- "Laverne and Shirley" Cindy Williams as creepy people in shabby situations are clinically precise yet ultimately unrelatable. The cheap plot twist at the end centers on Hackman's character, Harry Caul's, realization that he misinterpreted the inflection of another character's comment in a recording that he, himself, edited on what would have been state-of-the-art electronic equipment in 1974.

It was very slow moving. I'm personally not overwhelmed by the average psychological thriller, and for me, this was very average.

Boring, awful acting, lame plot line.

One of the first thrillers I've ever watched and my, it did not disappoint. Very interesting, and it kept me on my toes throughout the entirety of it, though the methods Coppola uses to do so aren't extreme and obvious like many films do today. It's really very ingeniously crafted. Some might find it slow, but again, if one has a slightly longer patience than the average teen nowadays seems to have, then it's really not slow at all. Gene Hackman is perfect as Harry, his performance often subtle and really bringing out the detail in this character. He's lonely, closed off, deeply religious, and through it all, angry at and afraid of himself. First Coppola film I've ever watched.

This is considered by many to be one of the great and most defining motion pictures of the 1970s. And while I'm not quite ready to jump on that bandwagon after my first viewing, I still think this is a sensationally intense and surprisingly minimalist thriller that refreshingly makes the audience think rather than handing everything over on a silver platter. The bulk of the movie is simply Hackman repeatedly reviewing surveillance of a young couple, gradually learning more as he slowly peels back the layers of the onion. One would think it would become repetitious and monotonous after awhile, but it is never less than hypnotic. And, of course, things are rarely what we expect in movies like this, so the last quarter of the film takes us in a direction I wasn't expecting - and felt foolish for not realizing sooner. But it all makes glorious sense in the end, and director Coppola, one of the all-time greats, is at the peak of his powers here and can elicit drama from the most seemingly mundane of situations. This may also be Hackman's finest hour - it's a role seemingly tailor-made to highlight his strengths as an actor, and he is the glue that holds everything together. This is a movie that requires the viewers to have a little patience and figure out pieces of the puzzle on their own - and it's a challenge worth accepting. Look for a pre-STAR WARS Harrison Ford in a small but crucial role.

After slogging through this 2 hour borathon,, the conversation here revolved around the fact that when critics on RT overwhelmingly love a movie, it's highly likely it lays an egg.

This was terrible. It's boring, slow, and for posers who want to seem like film critics.

A brilliant film, with possibly the greatest twist in cinematic history. I'm envious of those seeing it for the first time.