Flick of The Day: The Conversation

When celeb thrash magnate TMZ broke the news a couple of weeks back that Gene Hackman had been knocked down while cycling in Florida, I suddenly realised that I hadn't seen him on the big screen in quite awhile. One of the all time greats, Hackman is now semi-retired having not appeared in a film since 2004's lacklustre Welcome to Mooseport. Turning 82 next week though, he has surely earned a rest with a fine career behind him including such memorable roles as The French Connection and more recently The Royal Tenenbaums. Today's flick of the day is another one of his classic roles in  Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.

The Conversation

Made between the first two Godfather films which cemented his reputation as one of the best of the 70's auteurs, this is no less a masterpiece from Coppola though very much more of an art house film then those aforementioned pictures. Hackman is his usual reliable self as surveillance expert Harry Caul, the best in the business but a man wracked by the guilt of the damage caused by his telephone tapping and hidden cameras. Paranoid about everyone he meets, he is unable to relate to friends or make close connections because he can't get close enough to tell them any secrets about himself and his life. He takes on a case involving recording the conversation of a young couple in a busy San Francisco square though wary of the consequences. Together with his operative Stan, played by the late and truly great John Cazale, he records the conversation. At first glance it appears innocent enough but as the film progresses and Harry gets more and more detail, we learn that this is a dangerous conversation. Harry delivers it after a fashion to the large corporation that has requested it represented by an effete minion played by Harrison Ford and the Director played by an uncredited Robert Duvall. Harry fears for the young couple and attempts to keep his investigation ongoing, deeply worried about the consequences of his actions. However there is a twist in this tale and after all how closely did you listen to the conversation?

It is a crying shame that Coppola's career as a director took such a sharp downturn after his 70's heyday, reduced to making studio schlock like Jack, for when he was good he was very good indeed. A product of the short lived Director's Company, an attempt by Coppola to gain some freedom in his film making by bypassing the studio system, The Conversation is one of the true gems of 70's Hollywood. Making great use of the burgeoning sound technology, it weaves a fine tale of deceit and paranoia largely through the use of sound editing which makes the audience question what they are hearing, to question the nature of privacy in the modern world. This is something which is as relevant if not more relevant today as it was then.

Harry Caul: [upset, walking over to Martin seated] What are you doing here? 

Martin Stett: Take it easy I'm just a messenger. I brought you a drink. 

Harry Caul: I don't want your drink. Why are you following me? 

Martin Stett: I'm not following you I'm looking for you. There's a big difference.

Of course it helps when you assemble such a fine cast. Duvall, Hackman, Ford and Cazale all on one screen and all giving nuanced performances from a fine script which plays well on the audiences own fears. 

A commercial failure on release, perhaps lost between the success of the Godfather behemoth. it has since come to be seen for what it is. A ground breaking classic. Before this film, soundtracks were for dialogue and music. Coppola makes the soundtrack the heart of the film. Snippets of conversation, street musicians busking and the general hubbub of urban life are captured perfectly. It brought subtlety to how something was said, showing that the little inflection in speech can turn in a conversation on its head. Indeed, this is the root cause of the last minute twist which causes the audience the reassess what they heard. 

Perhaps today this film would not get made and even if did it would not have some of the biggest stars of the day in it. It would be a shame because for smart, well acted suspense, you really don't have to look any further. A classic

Flick of The Day: Blade Runner

In my review last week of The Adjustment Bureau, I noted the contribution that the work of Philip K. Dick has made to science fiction and to Hollywood in general. Perhaps the best film to come from his work, and also perhaps one of the best science fiction films of all time is today's flick of the day, Blade Runner, from director Ridley Scott. A critical and commercial failure on is release in 1982, it has since gone on to be highly influential and reappraised as the classic it is.

Blade Runner (Two-Disc Final Cut)

Opening with a beautiful and disturbing vision of the future, Los Angeles 2019. A dystopia in which genetically engineered robots known as replicants have become common place but are now banned from earth, forced to work on the off world colonies. We are soon introduced to Deckard, a brilliantly underplayed Harrison Ford, is a retired cop who used to work as a Blade Runner, licensed to catch and kill any replicants caught on earth. Scott's vision of Los Angeles is a dark cramped Asian city cast in almost permanent darkness with corporate advertising and its neon glow framing each shot with flying cars and at the top of this society is the Tyrell Corporation who design and build the replicants. They are designed to have short lifespans as a control however a rogue group led by Roy Batty, a brilliant Rutger Hauer have made their way to earth in search of an extension. Deckard is forced to come back on the job in search of Roy and his gang by his shady boss, the always creepy M. Emmet Walsh. Part film noir, part sci fi the film follows Deckard and his hunt for the replicants which leads to a bloody finale where he must confront the fearsome Roy.

Set to a perfectly futuristic score by Vangelis, this is a dark and yet beautiful vision of the future. A society with a junk filled culture in which advertising dominated the skyline. There are vast temple like skyscrapers which reach toward the skyline while the ground level is made up of crumbling slums of 20th Century buildings. Roy and Deckard have their final confrontation in an ornate gothic mansion in the depths of the city while neon signs for Coca Cola and TDK look down on them. This combined with a great cast make for an entertaining if dark film. Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer are justly lauded for their performances and Hauer's ad libbed soliloquy is a great final line, evoking images of the far reaches of the universe.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. "

The film is both awfully prescient and tellingly relevant in terms of the questions it asks about artificial intelligence. Advertising has become ever present in the intervening years and there is a deleted scene featuring technology like E-Readers. In terms of the replicants, it is not hard to feel sorry for them and their situation even the murderous Roy. They are forced to live a life that lasts but 4 years and yet have all of the emotions and needs of a real human. A pertinent question today as we move more and more toward the use of artificial intelligence.

While it performed poorly on its release, it has since come to be seen as a classic. It marries complex themes with and enjoyable detective storyline and this was perhaps too far ahead of its time for the audiences of 1982. There have been numerous versions of the film since its release as Ridley Scott has played around with it and had  it played around with by studios. Perhaps the definitive version is 2007's The Final Cut and this is the version I have reviewed as it fully realises Scott's vision of the film.

Deckard: You're reading a magazine. You come across a full-page nude photo of a girl. 

Rachael: Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?

All in all, this is a really great film which anyone with even a passing interest in the genre has to see. The influence of its design and technical achievement cannot be overstated. Rutger Hauer gives the performance of a lifetime and there is a fine supporting cast including Daryl Hannah.