the conversation

"Harry Caul...an invader of privacy. The best in the business. He can record any conversation between two people anywhere. So far, three people are dead because of him." These are the premises of Francis Ford Coppola's 1970 masterpiece "The conversation", a lucid analysis of electronic surveillance and the threat of new technologies, released at a time when the violation of civil rights was on of the main public concerns. The movie follows Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a surveillance expert who becomes utterly obsessed with a case of apparent marital infidelity, for fear that the couple he's closely watching might be murdered by the cheated husband. However, the movie's end is an impressive twist, turning Caul into the victim of his own profession. "The conversation" received 3 Oscar nominations, for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound. Actually, it unfortunately competed for Best Picture with Coppola's "The Godfather Part II". Full details and analysis here.