A largely unknown Coppola classic; I’m about to write a paper on Te Conversation and I though it would be a good oppuratunity to start a thread about this unsung Coppola classic. Unrecognized by most, this is definatley on par with any of The Godfathers or Apocalypse Now.
You could probably do an entire paper about the symbolism of Harry Caul’s cheap, semi-transparent, ever-present, plastic raincoat.
The final scene? I think the bug is in his sax!
Terrific film
Great friggin movie.
Whenever I list it in my top 10, it consistently provokes the most responses of, “The wha…?”
It’s been replayed a bunch lately here. IFC, Flix, Sundance, or maybe TCM. Can’t be sure which channel(s), but at least five times in the past couple months.
The music is especially good. The piano theme at the end is one I’d like to have, but I haven’t been out shopping for the soundtrack. David Shire has composer credit and several well known jazz tunes are listed as well, but I haven’t seen the name of the piece at the end. Anybody?
“He’d kill us if he got the chance.”
I love this movie. I wonder why no one’s heard of it? Was it profitable when it was first released?
The movie did well enough, and got an Oscar nomination (losing to Godfather II). It did OK in the box office, but wasn’t a blockbuster. But was was overshadowed by Copolla’s other films and didn’t create the buzz. It is, after all, a thoughtful film with a lot of subtlety, which, even before Lucas, meant it wasn’t going to be massively popular.
I think it’s probably Coppola’s best film. The Godfather is good, but slight, and Apocalypse Now is somewhat of a mess (though a fascinating one).
That line in the threat title is just plain great.
While recognizing the artistry of this film, I have to admit that I hate it. That technique of playing the conversation over and over and over again really gets to me. (I hated it in Klute, too). And when they played it the last time, they changed the emphasis. I realize it’s supposed to be Hackman finally getting the point, but , considering that you’ve been hearing the actual conversation all along, it’s like Agatha Christie bringing in unrevealed clues at the last minute.
The raincoat would be great, but unfortunately I can’t do that since its a shot analysis and I have to pick one scene, which is going to be hard to choose. I’m thinking the last scene with him tearing his apartment apart right now, but there are so many I can use.
I have the DVD and in the director’s commentary FFC admits thats chainging the tape was a cop out. He also commentated how the building the background of Hackmen’s apartment is slowly being torn down through the film. By the end there are no walls and no privacy.
But who would ever expect Shirley Feeny to be eeevil.
Great film. I take it people know it’s been cleaned up by the original sound team? I saw the new version in a cinema last year. Wonderful.
The scene I would choose DaPearl is the toilet scene. For me it’s up there with the bath scene in Jacob’s Ladder and the pipe-swapping in Brazil for great allegorical plumbing moments in cinema.
This movie and Mosquito Coast has coninced me that Harrison Ford should play only villains. Though he isn’t a lead in this movie, Ford steals the scenes he’s in. He plays the sliminess, aggression and menace perfectly.
It is, of course, Cindy William’s best role ever and I’m sorry her career never gave her the opportunity to do something like this again.
He wasn’t a villain in Mosquito Coast, DaPearl.
Just extremely unpleasant.
Well no, not a true villain, but he wasn’t a great guy. Basically, Harrison Ford should play more bad characters, since I think he does his best work with them.