Harry Caul is an invader of privacy. The best in the business.|Apr. 07, 1974|United States|113 Min.|PG
Genre: Crime;Drama;Mystery
Description: The Conversation is a 1974 film centered around Harry Caul, a surveillance expert portrayed by Gene Hackman. Based in San Francisco, Caul operates his own company and is deeply obsessed with maintaining his privacy. He lives in a nearly barren apartment secured with a triple-locked door and burglar alarm, uses pay phones for calls, and claims to have no home telephone. His office is tucked inside a chain-link cage within a large warehouse. With no friends and limited personal connections, Caul’s only hobby is playing the tenor saxophone alone to jazz records in his apartment.
Despite his profession, Caul insists he is not responsible for the content of the conversations he records or how his clients use the information. However, he is plagued by guilt over a past wiretap job that led to the murder of three people, a guilt further intensified by his devout Catholic faith.
The story unfolds as Caul, along with his colleague Stan and freelance associates, is hired to record a conversation between a couple in San Francisco’s crowded Union Square. Amid the background noise, the couple expresses fears of being watched and mentions a secret meeting at a hotel. After merging and filtering the recordings, Caul produces a clear but ambiguous tape.
When Caul attempts to deliver the tape, he finds the client absent and refuses to leave it with the assistant, Martin Stett, played by Harrison Ford. Stett warns Caul that the tape is dangerous. Growing increasingly uneasy about the potential consequences for the couple, Caul repeatedly listens to the tape, refining it further. Eventually, he uncovers a crucial phrase hidden beneath the noise: “He’d kill us if he got the chance.”
The film explores themes of privacy, morality, and the consequences of surveillance, leaving audiences questioning the ethical boundaries of technology and human interaction.
Cast director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast actor: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth MacRae, Teri Garr, Harrison Ford, Mark Wheeler
Original name: The Conversation