Kick-Back Friday: #102

The Conversation

(1974): Come on. It's been how many years since you've seen this movie? Rediscover what a national treasure Gene Hackman is. It's also one of Coppola's best, and I'm including The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.

For my part, I've watched this film, about a wiretapper with a Catholic conscience, more times than I care to admit outside a group of drooling cinephiles: There's the pulling of focus to complement audio lapses; the showing of character (Hackman picking up sidewalk trash to emphasize his character's fastidiousness); the best dream sequence on film; the confession (play close attention to the developing mismatch between the audio and Hackman's lips*); tech geeks cutting loose; the wry nod to Psycho in the hotel bathroom; John Cazale (fer Christ's sake!); a fetal Harrison Ford; the surveillance camera-like closing. Yes. YES. YES!

* This guy's so wound up he can't even tell his deepest secret to a priest in a confessional.