One of Coppola’s finest.

Click the image.

1974 was a great year for director Francis Ford Coppola for it saw his mystery movie ‘The Conversation’ come to the big screen.

Set in and around Union Square in San Francisco it’s about a professional sound snooper who makes a recording he wishes he had never heard.

As I remarked to my son:

To which he replied with a wonderful sense of the succinct:

This is a very low key, cerebral movie, one in which little happens, much reminiscent of the style of Antonioni. You can read my interview with the star of ‘Blow Up’ here.

But do not be fooled by the slow pacing of the movie. There are three scenes towards the end, each but a few frames, which are overpowering in their impact, but these are so brief, so shocking, that they are a ‘blink and and you will miss it’ sort of thing. The horrific lost in the banal. Absolutely chilling. If you think that Kubrick did not watch this movie before making ‘The Shining’ 6 years later, think again.

Highly recommended for anyone with an imagination and an attention span.

How great a year was 1974 for the director? The movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Writing and Best Sound – work by the wonderful Walter Murch. It failed to win in all three categories. Was Coppola to be disappointed? Well, no. That same year he made ‘The Godfather, Part II’ which earned him no fewer than six Oscars.