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MOVIE FEATURE

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Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is a taut suspenseful thriller that taps into ’70s paranoia about technology and surveillance that is even more relevant today. Words Bob J

Enemy of the State

back to a rooftop, where a man lies with a rifle-like contraption. However, it’s not a gun but rather a high-tech sound recorder focused on the mouths of a young couple, Mark and Ann (Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams), who are having a conversation. Caul is the chief surveillant walking around with a hidden microphone himself, as indeed are a few of his team all picking up the couple’s distorted voices. When they’ve finished recording Caul takes all of the tapes back to his apartment, where he has developed his own technology that

Tony Scott’s 1998 political thriller Enemy of the State , starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman, is speculated to be a sleuthy sequel to The Conversation . Although Hackman’s character is named Edward ’”Brill” Lyle”, his appearance and exclusive skillset are the same. He is a surveillance expert hired to help clear the name of a lawyer (Smith) targeted by rogue N.S.A Agents. In addition to their modus operandi being similar, Brill’s N.S.A file photo is an image of Hackman from The Conversation . That’s enough to convince us movie conspiracists.

Gene Hackman

I t was nominated for three Academy Awards and deservedly won the Palme d’Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. Michaelangelo Antonioni’s conspiracy thriller Blow Up (1966) involved a young hip British photographer unknowingly takes a photo of what could be a murder. When he discovers it, he becomes obsessed with solving the mystery behind the image. Coppola has cited that Antonioni’s film was a key (played by David Hemmings) who

allows him to filter out the crowd noise to ensure that the couple’s conversation is 100% clear. Once completed he must deliver it to his current client, referred to as ”the Director”-

Gene with director Francis Ford Coppola

Will Smith and Gene Hackman

(a Robert Duvall cameo role). Caul and his team are the best surveillants in the country but Caul, a devoted Catholic, is highly paranoic and takes extreme precautions to protect his own privacy. He also respects the privacy of his clients and doesn’t know why this conversation was recorded and apparently doesn’t care what it contains. However, now alone in his apartment

get finance until The Godfather became an enormous success. Subsequently, between

misreads entirely the intentions of the two protagonists captured on his tapes. He attempts to confront his client only to discover that ”the Director” has been supposedly killed in a car accident. Returning to his apartment, which has three locks, an alarm system, and a phone no-one knows about - his phone suddenly rings. The caller

his masterpiece and its 1974 sequel, Coppola directed his

version of a thriller movie based on audio eavesdropping using state of-the-art electronic surveillance. As the opening credits of The Conversation roll, we view a brilliantly executed sequence overlooking a heavily populated Union Square in San Francisco. The camera zooms on to a middle aged, balding man wearing a well-worn trench coat. This is Harry

influence on his conceptualisation of The Conversation , with both having themes that are based on surveillance versus participation, and perception versus reality. Coppola had written the outline for his film in 1966 but couldn't

piecing together the various recordings of the conversation, he discovers the potentially dangerous phrase, ”He’d kill us if he got the chance”. Haunted with guilt from a previous job that resulted in three deaths, Caul now becomes totally obsessed with his current contract when he

is his client’s nefarious assistant Martin Stett (Harrison Ford in his last pre- Star Wars major role) who informs Caul that his apartment has been wired, and warns him not to get involved any further. What follows has been

Caul (Gene Hackman), whom the camera now follows as he seemingly wanders aimlessly about the crowded park. When the opening shot ends, it zooms

• The Conversation

is available on 4K Aug 7

described as one of the most memorable movie endings ever.

Harrison Ford and Gene

14 AUGUST 2024

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