The Conversation
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Critics Sentiment
Harry breaks into the hotel room and the toilet overflows with blood
Harry's attempt to deliver the recording is thwarted and he is followed
The film swings from its most sluggish stretch around the mid-film delivery failure (6.5) to the shocking hotel room blood discovery (9.1), a rise of 2.6 points driven by the third act's celebrated and viscerally unforgettable horror.
The Conversation earns strong but not uniform praise, with a slow-burn first and second act that some reviewers find slightly underbaked before an explosive, nearly flawless third act redeems and elevates the entire film. Hackman's brooding, emotionally charged performance anchors every beat, and the film's paranoid themes around surveillance and guilt are considered as timely as ever. The final image of Harry destroying his own apartment and sitting alone in the wreckage is widely regarded as one of American cinema's most devastating and thematically complete endings.
Full cast
Gene Hackman
Harry Caul
John Cazale
Stan
Allen Garfield
William P. 'Bernie' Moran
Frederic Forrest
Mark
Cindy Williams
Ann
Michael Higgins
Paul
Elizabeth MacRae
Meredith
Teri Garr
Amy Fredericks
Harrison Ford
Martin Stett
Mark Wheeler
Receptionist
Robert Shields
The Mime
Phoebe Alexander
Lurleen
Ramon Bieri
Man at Party (uncredited)
Gian-Carlo Coppola
Boy in Church (uncredited)
Robert Duvall
The Director (uncredited)
Richard Hackman
Confessional Priest / Security Guard (uncredited)
Billy Dee Williams
Man in Yellow Hat (uncredited)
Crew
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