[Directors'] #76 The Conversation (Coppola) at The Egyptian Theatre

 

I tried to watch The Conversation (1974) twice on streaming, but fell asleep both times before the protagonist, played by Gene Hackman, even meets with Harrison Ford, his client's representative. At a friend's insistence, this was not a film to be missed. This was one of the most under appreciated films of all time, he said, by Francis Ford Coppola. It's set in San Francisco, he said. Analog technology has never been better captured in a movie, he said. Try it again, he said. 

In spring 2025, after Hackman's passing, American Cinematheque hosted a tribute highlighting many of his most iconic performances, including his breakout role as a lonely wiretapper in The Conversation. And they were showing it at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, home of the world's first film premier. This was my opportunity to try again, but on the big screen.

Hackman steals the show in a tense character study about the effect of spying on the spy. An analog sound hacker is convinced he's a hero, but he's actually just crazy!? How could I ever have slept --- literally or metaphorically --- on this performance? 

My favorite of Hackman’s roles is still Royal Tenenbaum, the curmudgeonly patriarch of Wes Anderson’s third (and best) film. His performance in the “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” needle-drop montage made a generation of viewers wish he was their problematic grandpa taking them on a tear of New York City. But Hackman's versatility --- a feature than came to define his acting career --- was on full display as he destroyed his character's apartment in a fit of paranoia in the closing scene of The Conversation. 

RIP to an absolute legend. No one will ever wear a sad, translucent plastic raincoat more believably.