Day 195: "We'll be listening to you."

Having been suitably impressed with the state of American cinema from the 70's, I was excited to watch The Conversation.  Directed and written by Francis Ford Coppola?  Check.  Starring Gene Hackman and John Cazale?  Check.  After watching it, gotta say I was bored with this one.  Harry Caul is the owner and main operator of his own private observation and recording firm.  Basically he is a freelance spy.  He is paid to record the conversation of a couple in a crowded and noisy square, and begins to dissect the tapes to distinguish the conversation from the background noises.  He succeeds, and is suddenly worried for the safety of not only the couple's well being, but his as well.  Harry is also an extremely private man, to the point of paranoia.  These personality traits are exacerbated by his new found predicament and he begins to unravel.  This is where the crux of my problem with the movie lies: is it Harry's story, showing how a man on the edge can easily come apart, or is it the story of this same man trying to avoid becoming an accessory to murder?  I couldn't decide, and worse, I found I really didn't want to.

Gene Hackman is one of my all-time favorite actors, and he did a pretty good job here, but the character was so introverted and private, I had real difficulty rooting for him.  John Cazale was one of those actors whose amazing career was cut way too short by his untimely death.  He also did a great job here.  The characters were just such..."nebbishes" I couldn't care what was going to happen.

An unfortunate disappointment, The Conversation had a lot going for it, but ultimately came up a bit short for me.  The suspense that should have permeated this film was too subdued to be effective, and the movie just came off as boring to me.  I guess they can't all be winners.  6/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!