The movie I chose was The Conversation and was released in 1974 and directed by Francis Ford coppola. The main actors in the movie include Gene Hackman, John Cazale and Harrison Ford . What The Conversation is about is Harry Cual ( Gene Hackman ) is a private investigator who uses his skills and tech to tap into people’s phones, Homes and even conversation out on the street. However the case he’s been working on ( Hackman ) becomes obsessed with the case and thinks his work has led to some deaths because of what he has uncovered before. So now when it come to this case about the couple, Harry is a little bit more concerned in finding the truth about the couple and relation to the company that contracted him to investigate. Since he doesn’t want anymore people getting hurt he is a bit more reluctant to turn in the tapes into Martin Stett ( Harrison Ford ).  Especially during the day in time where everyone lies and not many can be trusted not even his coworkers. Harry caul had a rough childhood who turned out to be successful in his field being admired by others in the same line of work. Caul is tech savvy as seen yet the only form of entertainment he has in his home  is jazz on records and a saxaphone. Thats one thing that’s a bit ironic he spys on people for a living  yet he has nothing one can use to tap his home except a old school phone.

The way this movie was filmed was in a in an unconventional way. Due to the fact it doesn’t make its main point big and broad the movie makes you think a lot more than most movies. It also doesn’t give a clear description about what’s happening in the beginning scene and doesn’t make clear who they are or what there job is. The movie unravels slowly but efficiently in making some points more subtle than others in the movie. Since the movie was released in 1974, there was a lot to play with since at the time people were concerned for privacy due to the fact that the 2 years before in 1972 there was the watergate scandal. So it was in the market to make this type of movie but have there own story with the idea of “privacy” in mind to show that nothing is really secret anymore in this day and age.  Also the way the film starts focusing on the couple in the beginning plays a vital role to how the film starts to unravel. which is one thing I found neat since most people tend to completely forget about the beginning however once reintroduced it solved most of the questions the audience had. 

The films budget was fairly small at 1.8 million which is 9.3 million in today’s money when adjusted for inflation  so it was a fair amount. However what they made back was a decent amount at 4.4 million or 22.9 million in the box office so safe to say it was a success . The way this movie engages with political issues is the who thing of privacy and being watched by the government and private companies. As seen ( Hackman ) has his own small private investigating company and uses the latest tech there is to record conversations and store once its complete. Also during the movie when the little party is happening Bernie ( Allen Garfield ) said “ I used to do some similar work uncovering the truth for a political party a while back “ This in turn is referring to the watergate scandal. which that line alone really puts it into perspective what people were dealing with at the time. If the public don’t trust the president then who can they trust certainly not each other.  The movie makes it clear these were tough times with the oil crisis of 73 and the watergate in 72 which kicked off the privacy concerns the film hit spot on with these topics.  Now the way the movie is filmed is with a 3rd perspective and the tech it uses to film is nothing to crazy but it at the time it was considered exceptional with decent audio. The sound effects the movie had in some scenes was good and really put the sense into the right mood such as suspense or relieve the audience should feel while watching. 

The reviews this movie got where pretty good, the audience seemed to enjoy it and Roger Ebert seem to be fond of the film as well giving it a four star review and saying “The Conversation” comes from another time and place than today’s thrillers, which are so often simple-minded” ( Rogerebert.com). Which Ebert is right most movies today just feed the audience the information about the big mystery and have such a predictable ending. The Conversation however doesn’t it really makes one think and pay close attention to not miss a big key to the mystery which won’t be so obvious for the most part.  With Ebert behind the film its safe to say that the film was a success in terms of public review and box office revenue.