Thomas, Robert McG. Jr.. "Hal Lipset, 78, Famous Sleuth." The New York Times 12 Dec. 1997. Obituaries. 04 Apr. 2006 <http://www.ishipress.com/lipset.htm>. 

Hal Lipset elevated surveillance to an art in the half century that he ran his private eye business in San Francisco. He transformed the image of a detective into something glamourous, partly because he ran his business in a huge mansion at the top of town and partly because he could simply outsmart even the most paranoid subjects. At the time, private eyes were known as lawyer’s errand boys, but his inventive style made his bugs hard to avoid. He lived a life that seemed like it was in the movies, like when he chased jewel thieves across Europe to the Canary Islands. Coppola based Harry on Lipset, but made Harry seem like a much more ordinary man. However, Harry and Lipset share the same east coast background and imagination. Hal Lipset’s most famous trick was to bug the olive in a martini, his work was groundbreaking once he got a hold of transistors, which allowed him to take on a more inventive approach to spying. The olive became symbolic of how easy transmitters were to conceal, and Lipset began to campaign for restrictions on invading privacy, because he realized the immense burden of information. Lipset wrote a book on the government’s many invasions of privacy called “The Eavesdroppers” with the help of former Philadelphia prosecutor, Sam Dash. Dash also contracted Lipset as chief investigator for the Senate Watergate Committee but when it was realized that he had been convicted of a minor eavesdropping offense, he was forced to resign. Lipset was a huge inspiration to Coppola in his framing of the Harry Caul character. Not only did he advocate for protection of privacy rights, Harry’s perfectionism and skill was based on the actions of this famous private eye.

Peary, Gerald."The Conversation." American Movie Classics Magazine (Fall 2000). http://www.geraldpeary.com/essays/the/the_conversation.html

Although some believe that Coppola strategically released The Conversation four days before Nixon’s betrayals became public, he did not intentionally draw parallels between the main character, Harry Caul, and the Watergate burglars or even Nixon himself. Coppola actually believed that the film would have been received better if the event hadn’t coincided with the box office release. Coppola made the film between The Godfather and The Godfather II, but he wrote the script as a UCLA student in the sixties. After the success of The Godfather, the studio finally gave him the money to make this story about a man who tries to separate himself from his work so much that he becomes consumed by it. Gene Hackman’s character Harry Caul has the deeply understated starring role in the film, as a surveillance expert who has feelings of guilt and paranoia about the subject matter of his contracting work from corporate companies. This character is emotionless and sheltered, avoids contact with other people, and is an overall private man, as witnessed by the excessive number of locks on the door of his ordinary apartment’s door. The film was actually seeded by a conversation Coppola had with Irvin Kershner, a fellow director. Kershner told Coppola about high-powered microphones that could record people from far away and then sent him an article about Hal Lipset, a sound-surveillance expert. He was fascinated in the surveillance profession from then on. Coppola modeled the character after himself in a way, but was unimpressed by Gene Hackman’s aloofness on the set. Hackman’s character was crippled as a child, and seems to have developed long-term problems with social interaction. Coppola grew up with Polio, and was a self-proclaimed “weirdo in high school” The shoot was very tough and went over the budget quickly. The firing of the cinematographer created even more drama to add to the previous difficulties Thankfully, Walter Murch was brought in for the soundtrack, which helped Coppola organize his myriad of confusing footage. Murch reorganized the story completely and created the importance of sound in the film based on the telling line that is misunderstood, “ He’d kill us if he got the chance”.

Silver, Alain, James Ursini and Paul Duncan, ed. Film Noir. Hohenzollerning: Taschen, 2004.

The Conversation is considered to continue in the tradition of Film Noir detective stories as part of the neo-noir movement started by Chinatown (1974). With its roots in the dark scenery apparent in German Expressionism, Film Noir caught on in the United States in the 60’s with young enthusiasts promoting the movement in film schools. As it happens, Coppola was a student at UCLA during that time, and he this is when he wrote the film. The Conversation includes many tenets of the film noir genre such as the typical haunted past of the protagonist. The protagonist’s actions are often influenced by this past, and because of it, he likes to live in the shadows and avoid human contact. The emphasis on causality is also apparent in the movie; Harry struggles with the consequences of his actions, and his fears often evolve into imagined fatalism concerning the subjects of his surveillance. Harry Caul is hunted by Martin and “the Director”; typical of a film noir protagonist, he is never able to escape from this, as evidenced by the movie’s final scene. Even if Harry does escape the surveillance of the corporation, his mind will not let him be free of fear for his privacy, which he so highly regards. As in most film noirs, the most seditious character in the film is a woman, referred to in the genre as a femme fatale. These women are willing to use any weapon, mostly their sexuality, in order to gain something from the male dominated universe. While Harry seems to brush off and disrespect women, he is eventually outsmarted by one because he believed that she actually seeked a connection. This character’s destiny is foreshadowed for studiers of noir when she states that she is unsure if she is married, implying that this is a strong woman who is not subservient.  The Conversation also uses a variety of technical techniques that resemble the noir style in their use of odd angles and moving cameras.   

Beck, Jay. “Citing the Sound.” Journal of Popular Film and Television Winter 2002.
    http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_4_29/ai_82779441/pg_4

The sound in The Conversation was nominated for Best Sound at the 1975 Academy Awards. While most of the sound production in the 1960s was remnant of the studio systems original sound technology, this film pushed sound production into a new era by exploring new ways to integrate sound into film. Since the central character’s job is to manipulate film, sound plays an important role. The soundtrack is a driving factor of the plot in its case, and it required the viewers to integrate their viewing experience with their listening experience. Films in the 1970s embraced “anti-realistic” tactics such as grainy film stock and lens flares, and this trend continued into sound in Coppola’s film. He used the sound to drive the narrative, which was a relatively new concept, only preceded by Antonioni’s film Blow Up. Influential sound producers defied the typical Hollywood hierarchy by running the production team democratically and allowing free experimentation in sound techniques. The problem with the technique of driving the movie with sound was that audiences were not used to integrating sound into a visual field. Harry not only provides a narrative for his films through the recorded conversation, he basically mixes the soundtrack throughout the film, acting as a sound mixer. A powerful aspect of the sound production is the “audio-zoom”, where the sound increases as the camera zooms into a crowd. The sound echoes what an eavesdropper would hear, it picks up on important conversations throughout the crowd. The sound relays Harry’s mental state to the viewer, and is heard from his perspective. The sound is not a redundancy of the actions on the screen; it is a complement to the action. The deconstruction of sound production in the 1970s was a result of the rebellion of directors to the studio system, but soon Dolby would standardize sound and mixing techniques and end the period of experimentation. 

Megan Ratner. “Notes on The Conversation.” Senses of Cinema 13.1 (Mar 2001). 4 Apr 2006. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/13/conversation.html

Coppola emphasizes the bleak view of corporations that emerged in the 1970s by creating a brash cinematic view of the nameless corporation that contracted Harry to conduct surveillance. The film shows the shift in corporate identity that took place in the era. Business became brands, because the companies were no longer just selling goods, they were selling a lifestyle. However, Coppola portrays the corporation as an impenetrable stronghold of control. Although Harry is the surveillance expert, he can find out nothing about the corporation, not even its name or area of business. By filming the Embarcadero Center as a foreboding fortress, he creates parallels to Harry’s own personality, which is non-descript, anonymous, and hard to penetrate. Unfortunately, he is not as impenetrable as the all-powerful corporations that he so resembles. The manipulation of Harry by “the Director” ties the political furor over government conspiracies and applies them to another sector of public society. This movie is a thriller in more than one sense; first, the film identifies a new villain to the public, second, the insidious power of the corporation is kept at arm’s length throughout the movie, as Harry only has three encounters with employees. While it is difficult to decide whether the true villain is the corporation, the people that work there, or simply Harry’s mind, it is obvious that Coppola intended to shroud the company in mystery for effect. The film often obstructs the truth from Harry and the viewer, providing a disorienting thrill. Almost harking back to the secret agencies of 1950s detective stories, Coppola provides nothing but more than a façade of the corporation’s actual doings, leaving the assumptions of fear and peril to the viewer.

“Paranoia and Paranoid Disorders.” National Mental Health Association. 4 Apr 2006.
    <http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/paranoia.cfm>

Paranoia is an essential element of The Conversation, Harry’s decent into the depths of his obsessed mind causes him to have suspicions that are without evidence. His symptoms are evident throughout the movie from the first time we see his drab, phone-less apartment. Harry has the typical symptoms of paranoid disorder, his intense suspicions and mistrust of people is evident in his treatment of his mistress, who he refuses to share any personal information with. Often this irrational mistrust leads to rage and hatred, as Harry exhibits when people ask him questions, and most notably in the final scene where he disassembles his home. His preoccupation with hidden motives seem to be somewhat merited, but the viewer cannot trust the point of view of the mentally incapacitated protagonist. His character’s personality perfectly matches the described actions of someone suffering from paranoid disorder; he is unable to relax, argumentative, self-righteous, stubborn, and perfectionistic. Of course, Harry is not acting this way without merit. Paranoid disorder is acquired because of a breakdown of mental functions involving reasoning and assigned meanings. Harry has to confront a paradox of truth and lies, and his mental capacity is confused by the sequence of events confronting him. Most often, paranoia is a result of misunderstanding or increased responsibility. Harry is stressed because he must confront both of these ills in his longing to understand the contents of his recording. Like many people with paranoid disorders, Harry can function in everyday life, but he leads an isolated existence in order to shield himself from his intense fear of persecution. 

Turner, Dennis. “The Subject of ‘The Conversation’.” Cinema Journal 24.4 (1985): 4-22.
JSTOR. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. 4 Apr 2006
< http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-7101%28198522%2924%3A4%3C4%3ATSO%22C%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R>
 

The Conversation follows the tradition of French Impressionism by presenting a mystery that cannot be resolved by the viewer or the character. The film blends this mystery with more contemporary Film Noir style that defies the viewer’s subjectivity. The protagonist Harry is in every scene, providing the audience no more information than he has over the six days. The ending scene provides no resolve but, Harry Caul’s paranoia seems to have transferred onto the viewer; although there is no evidence of the apartment is being bugged besides Martin’s word, the viewer perceives Harry’s fear and leaves with the impression that the apartment was still being watched (although these intuitions could be due to the interesting surveillance-like camera work). Turner argues that the film establishes untraditional relationships between images and sounds that are more demanding to the viewer thus paralleling the cloudiness of the storyline. Although this may diminish the movie watching experience, the viewer’s experience watching the film is similar to the actual experience of Hackman’s character. Harry Caul is forced to watch from afar and to interpret without context, as is The Conversation’s viewer. Interestingly, the plot lies on the fact that Harry did misinterpret information that led him to be fearful and paranoid for the wrong reasons. Harry is a viewer just like those in the theatre seats; even though he thinks that a crime is about to occur, he just watches, listens, and hopes that his attendance will be enough. Harry’s inability to act is the film’s antagonist, thus, the moral conveyed to the audience is meant to be liberating and encouraging. The film seeks to show that action is necessary to solve situations that violate civil liberties. Some argue that the whole of the movie is indecipherable because Harry’s paranoia is so great that the realizations of surveillance could be fantasy. Coppola does succeed in relating to the audience by harkening back to films from the past such as Hitchcock’s Psycho and Antonioni’s Blow-Up in order to give cues to understand the movie.

Strong, Benjamin. “Old-School Paranoia.” Slate. 9 Mar. 2006 http://www.slate.com/id/2137770/

 Benjamin Strong’s article concerns the legacy of The Conversation and how this film influenced the whole genre of conspiracy films. He focuses on the influence of Antonioni’s movie Blow-Up (1966) on Coppola’s film, and subsequently, the movies that were influenced by The Conversation. While Coppola had wanted to make the movie before Nixon was even President, the release coincided with the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena of the 42 tapes that would force President Richard Nixon to resign. Strong suggests that Harry Caul is meant to be a placeholder for Nixon, because their fear of paranoia certainly links the two.  Harry is unable to escape surveillance even though he is dubbed the “best bugger on the West Coast” as witnessed in the final scene where he rips apart his apartment but still fails to find the means that allow him to be watched. While this film was the only one to address wiretap surveillance from a cathartic perspective, many conspiracy films followed suit in the same existential tone as The Conversation. Harry Caul’s character was based on Antonioni’s jaded photographer in Blow-Up. In the film, the cynical character’s feelings are awakened when he accidentally records evidence to a murder; this character gets wrapped up in the crime just like Harry but, The Conversation gives in to a more optimistic point of view by implying that the truth will liberate the injustices. The movie also influenced a similarly named movie, Blow Out, which was the first movie to tackle wiretap conspiracies since Coppola. This film provided a more bleak view of the future that emphasizes the government’s denial to tell the truth when confronted with the ethical issues of invading privacy.