2025 Blind Spot Series: The Conversation

-

 

Official synopsis: A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

I realized with the recent death of the legendary Gene Hackman, that despite feeling like I always knew who he was, I haven't actually seen a lot of his filmography. According to what's listed on letterboxd, prior to The Conversation, I had only seen 5% of it. So I made it a priority to check out one of his films for my next Blind Spot, and his starring role in Francis Ford Coppola's feature sounded like a good place to start.

It's fun to see Coppola regulars like Robert DuVall and John Cazale pop up in this ,but the biggest treat for me was Harrison Ford as Martin, the "go between" for the man hiring Hackman's Harry to spy on the couple. He's just so effortlessly cool, even though his character is quite shady. He's on screen for all of 10 minutes yet all I could think of is how much sense it makes that he would go on to play Han Solo and Indiana Jones. I know this isn't his first role, but something about it stuck with me.

Hackman of course is excellent as the paranoid Harry. He has a dorkiness about him that just makes sense. He goes to a wire tapping convention like it's a Comic Con. Even the scenes with his girlfriend are awkward. He's a fascinating character.

I did guess where the film was going to go pretty early on, but I still enjoyed watching it play out. You can't deny this film's originality. 

Grade: B

Comments

  1. thevoid99April 5, 2025 at 5:01 PM

    I do love this film as I think it's one of Francis' best films. Coppola did admit the film is a bit of a rip-off of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up that would also inspire another great film in Brian de Palma's Blow Out. That is a great triple-feature. Gene Hackman is great in this as he is one of those actors who I love and a rare class of actor who can't suck. There are a bunch of things in that I love in the sound design and editing but also John Cazale's small role as Stan. Cazale always does something with a role no matter how small it is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamApril 6, 2025 at 12:39 PM

      I'll have to watch Blow Up and Blow Out! Haven't seen either.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousApril 7, 2025 at 5:44 AM

    This is Birgit. This film was uneasy to watch for me because Gene Hackman played his role so well as the paranoid operative. He becomes really invested in the couple he is watching. Gene Hackman never goes wrong even in films that are not up to his calibre. It is very sad how he died and I still wonder why his children never called during all those days. Anyhoo, it reminds me, a bit, about this gem of a film called , “The Lives of Others”.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SJHoneywellApril 7, 2025 at 7:53 AM

    I like this movie quite a bit. It's a small movie, but an intense one.

    Completely agree on the suggestions for both Blow Up and Blow Out. Blow Up is essentially this, but photography. Blow Out is almost a direct rip-off of this in a sense, but it's a hell of a ride.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamApril 8, 2025 at 7:29 PM

      I love how they didn't even try with those names...Blow Up and Blow Out lol

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Review: Armand

-
Image
Official Synopsis : Armand, a 6-year-old boy, is accused of crossing boundaries against his best friend at elementary school. His mother, Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve) is called to his school to discuss an action plan. This is Norway's submission to the 2025 Oscars for Best International Feature and I've been itching to see what else Reinsve can do after her excellent performance in The Worst Person in The World . Turns out, she can do anything. I think she's even better here.  I have to acknowledge the elephant in the room (in the blog?) This is going to get A LOT of comparisons to Germany's The Teachers' Lounge and while those are not completely unwarranted - this is another film set entirely in a school where a crime may have been committed - Armand takes a very different look at its subjects and how it plays out.  The way this is shot is very captivating. Director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel clearly knows what he's doing behind the camera despite this being his fir...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more