Episode #795: The Conversation (W❤️M)
Added 2025-04-17 10:00:16 +0000 UTC“Hackman is dressed head-to-toe in Zapruder-wear...” - Steve
On this month’s We ❤️ Movies, we’re chatting about Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 masterpiece, The Conversation! How fantastic, and against type, is Hackman in this movie? How much cocaine was getting blown at that surveillance conference? How amazing is Harrison Ford playing this villainous character? Has there been anyone as natural and amazing on camera as John Cazale? And how about that magnificent score by David Shire? PLUS: Would Harry Caul have been less lonely if they had online Call of Duty seshes in the 1970s?
The Conversation stars Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederick Forrest, Cindy Williams, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth MacRae, Terri Garr, Harrison Ford, and Robert Duvall as The Director; directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.
Comments
Finally finished this episode, and what an absolute treat! It is so damn good to hear the guys flex their cinema prowess, understanding of storytelling, and celebrity impressions. Thanks for an all-time WLM!
TDB
2025-05-02 02:26:10 +0000 UTCI’ve thought… 1) David Shire us shy Talia Shire has that last name… he was the original composer to Apocalypse Now but he divorced her and and Coppola’s dad Carmine re recorded it… 2) Garry looks like a confirm with that coat, separating himself from the rest of SF society… 3) Harrison Ford seems like a Smithers to Duvall’s Mr. Burns, 4)Harrison Ford is the most attractive person in the film by a long shot so he might be evil (obviously) 5) And Robert Duvall is also uncredited in another 70s paranoia film… Invasion of the Body Snatchers as a priest on a swing staring at Donald Sutherland and 6) Gardens of Stone was what FCC was filming when his son was killed…epic episode absolutely loved it RIP GENE HACKMAN THE GOAT
Carlos Ramirez
2025-04-26 11:45:11 +0000 UTCNever saw this movie but now I will have to check it out. Saw clips of this on YouTube and you’re right — menacing Harrison Ford is really capitulating.
Shariq
2025-04-22 01:12:06 +0000 UTCGreat episode and great movie!! Saw it in a film class in college. Still love it years later.
Chris Preston
2025-04-21 22:08:18 +0000 UTCDid Eric do a Paul Walker to Jennifer Aniston?
Craig
2025-04-21 11:05:07 +0000 UTCFun fact, the directors office is a ghost mall in downtown SF that used to have an extremely ok cinema (I saw Melancholia there!)
Zachary Maricondia
2025-04-21 03:52:07 +0000 UTCSaw this for the first time in theatres (I’m not that old, it was at a cinema that shows classics). But when the screening was coming up the theatre was showing the original trailer for the movie and it includes that incredible final shot - in full! They just did not care about spoilers in those days.
Craig
2025-04-20 13:01:06 +0000 UTCEric is on fire in this episode!
Kate
2025-04-19 04:12:19 +0000 UTCOne huge value to a lot of WLM selections is that I can find new things to appreciate about a good movie. Like for this one, I think it's great. I would say it's a We Like Movies for me. However, hearing the boys mention subtle things I didn't notice or provide interesting theories makes me actually appreciate the movie even more than I did before.
Busiris
2025-04-18 16:13:37 +0000 UTCMy sister died in a boating accident in 2006 and I still laugh at the "boking accident" Simpsons line.
Scott Plackemeier
2025-04-18 04:35:15 +0000 UTCI didn't notice it until the last time I saw it, possibly cause it was at an Alamo screening so it was the first time I saw it on the big screen.
Gone
2025-04-18 04:06:30 +0000 UTCI ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TAKE FOR REPRISE OF THE LINE READING. If the movie wasn't great in all these other regards, I would hate it. I argued about that with my film teacher in high school. First time I was called pretentious, which was fair. Like every high schooler that liked movies. I used "cinema" as a word too much. Anyway, I've been talking about that for a long time. If they used the same takes or even just replayed it until it changed in his mind, I don't know. Fuck. Maybe I am still pretentious
Jonathan Lyons
2025-04-18 02:46:14 +0000 UTCJust starting the episode and realized the missed opportunity to continue the theme month and cover Laverne and Shirley In The Army on Animation Damnation.
Phillip
2025-04-18 01:27:22 +0000 UTCBOKING Accident. Very obscure ref from Stephen.
Ryan Horn
2025-04-18 00:13:45 +0000 UTChttps://youtu.be/cTIVEVYYUCQ?si=E7ewuNw5BwhtF3cd
Ryan Horn
2025-04-18 00:13:02 +0000 UTCI am already at the highest tier, but would pay to go up a level if the guys would record a Spawn-mentary but do it all in Gene Hackman’s character.
Derek Baxter
2025-04-17 22:07:29 +0000 UTCThat score sounds so much like the Severance theme at times. It had to inspire it.
Slappy White
2025-04-17 20:50:13 +0000 UTCAlso how i treat my therapist
Brandon
2025-04-17 20:30:24 +0000 UTClove this flick
Brandon
2025-04-17 20:29:47 +0000 UTCAt 1:07:50 you can see the glare Andrew is giving Steve and Chris
RJ Cunningham
2025-04-17 20:07:17 +0000 UTCI assign this film in my intro classes, and the freshmen usually mostly dig it. It's always great to hear Cazale get some appreciation. Also, btw, a "caul" is a portion of amniotic sac covering a baby's head or face at birth. Some babies are born en-caul, when the entire amniotic sac is delivered unbroken with the infant inside, and some traditional cultures, like the Italian benandanti, believed people born with a caul had shamanistic abilities (see Carlo Ginzberg 1966). So I think Harry Caul's translucent raincoat has some more going on symbolically, even if if just suggests a desire to return to the safety and isolation of the womb. Anyway, now that I sound like a pompous asshole, thanks for covering this movie.
CJ SWANSON
2025-04-17 20:07:09 +0000 UTCWatched this for the first time because of this ep and good god DAMN what a picture!
Matt
2025-04-17 19:13:41 +0000 UTCIt's honestly the most menacing he's ever been to me! - Andrew
We Hate Movies
2025-04-17 19:03:31 +0000 UTCThank you, W-N-R! - Andrew
We Hate Movies
2025-04-17 18:50:25 +0000 UTCExactly right, Melissa, you gotta do it! - Andrew
We Hate Movies
2025-04-17 18:50:04 +0000 UTCCatholic here. Pretty much non-practicing at this point. I always said the same thing at confession: I fought with my sisters, and lied to my parents. Technically both were true. I just left out all the actual bad stuff. You have to.
Melissa Benjamin
2025-04-17 17:43:49 +0000 UTCMan I can't express how much I enjoy a good, quality WLM episode, the boys showing their love for everything they find interesting and the level of perfection that comes together with a film like The Conversation. Excellent episode, this one will be replayed plenty. Cheers 🍻
Watch_N_Rewatch
2025-04-17 17:36:59 +0000 UTCI saw him not too long ago in Coppola's "One From the Heart", and he's also great in that.
Z
2025-04-17 16:56:50 +0000 UTCThis was my first time watching the movie and because we were shown he is mentally unstable before, I thought everything with the hotel room was in his head, and an expression of his guilt especially the blood toilet. I am so glad you guys selected this over another Hackman movie I have probably seen a bunch because I really enjoyed watching it and have been thinking about it a lot since watching it a few weeks back
I.C. Weiner
2025-04-17 16:48:06 +0000 UTCI like when we can tell how much yalz enjoyed the movie when actual enthusiastic film analysis slips in between the dick jokes. Not being facetious at all.
MarkNM
2025-04-17 16:14:52 +0000 UTCTo me he’s first and foremost the cook from Apocalypse Now
Felipe Sobreiro
2025-04-17 16:00:52 +0000 UTCOne of my all time favorite runners
RaggyB
2025-04-17 15:58:14 +0000 UTCMan how menacing does Harrison Ford come off in this movie?
Geoff Gershon
2025-04-17 15:56:23 +0000 UTCI know that Frederick Forrest (RIP) was much more prolific but for some reason, I just look back at his career as doing ONE memorable role in a movie I love every ten years....and completely different roles too. 😆 1974 - The Conversation 1983 - Valley Girl 1993 - Falling Down For the record, he's a real kick as the loveable hippie dad in Valley Girl
Geoff Gershon
2025-04-17 15:53:49 +0000 UTCYour church had a casting couch? Jeepers H Crackers.
MarkNM
2025-04-17 15:51:58 +0000 UTCThat's too funny.....last night when I rewatched it, I thought that for the first time too. :)
Geoff Gershon
2025-04-17 15:50:35 +0000 UTCHands-down Hackman's BEST overall performance! Even though I find him more fun in movies like Hoosiers and Crimson Tide. :)
Geoff Gershon
2025-04-17 15:49:30 +0000 UTCWhat am I missing? I love Gene Hackman, but this movie was a real snoozefest for me.
Dr. M
2025-04-17 15:35:03 +0000 UTCYou guys brought up confessions so I need to talk about the horrific conditions of my childhood church. There were no confessional boxes but instead rooms in the back with couches in which you were supposed to confess to the priest face to face. Yes, one of the priests was arrested one day after mass, and from that point until her death my mom was convinced I was molested by a priest (I wasn't).
I.C. Weiner
2025-04-17 14:46:51 +0000 UTCIt really might be my favorite Coppola film
James C Harris
2025-04-17 14:45:50 +0000 UTCThe bug was 100% in the sax. During the scene where he confronts Harrison Ford at the convention you see someone walk by behind Caul carrying a saxophone. I can’t imagine that detail happens if it doesn’t mean something, and that’s the only thing I could connect it to.
Gone
2025-04-17 14:45:16 +0000 UTCListening right now and rubbing my hands for one of my favorite WHM impressions: Frederic Forrest as the nazi creep in Falling Down
Felipe Sobreiro
2025-04-17 13:38:03 +0000 UTCCome on down to Zapruders, one location at The Gettin' Place
DMAC
2025-04-17 13:12:59 +0000 UTCWhat a feisty beginning to this episode! Love it
Matthew Mariner
2025-04-17 12:44:43 +0000 UTCBack in high school, I was lucky enough to take a film elective with a teacher named Mr. C, who was a great guy and an OG movie lover. All we had to do was show up and watch great movies. It was one of the best scams. Mr. C was taken from this world too soon, and he’s a huge reason why I ❤️ Movies. The Conversation was one of his favorites and will always make me think of him.
Allison
2025-04-17 11:01:03 +0000 UTCGreat movie. First watch. Miss ya gene
James Sherlock
2025-04-17 10:02:47 +0000 UTC
