The Conversation (1974)

"Brilliant film about an obsessive surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) who makes a mistake of becoming too involved in a case and finds himself entangled in murder and high-level power plays." (From Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide).

I love this movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It takes place in San Francisco, and a key surveillance sequence takes place in Union Square.

On my trip to there last month I got the chance to see this park, which was really neat. It's changed a bit in 40 years, but it still draws a large crowd just as it did back then.

This film is really thrilling, and has great performances by Gene Hackman and John Cazale, and a very earlyl movie role for Harrison Ford, who follows Hackman through a convention hall. It holds up pretty well after nearly 40 years even though some of the technology is a bit dated.

With Robert Duvall, Teri Garr, Frederic Forrest, and Cindy Williams.