The Conversation (1974) – I am afraid of murder

On TCM 9/9/16- The Conversation (1974) – Director/writer Francis Ford Coppola’s camera dissects visually the action around Cindy Williams (Ann) and Frederic Forest (Mark) as they walk through a busy, noisy and crowded Union Square in San Francisco while screen great Gene Hackman as sound recording surveillance expert Harry Caul and his colleague Stan played by the late great John Cazale bug this conversation dissecting the sound bites. But the meaning of the line: “He’d kill us if he got the chance.” makes the super paranoid Caul even more paranoid as later in a brilliantly directed dream sequence he tells an imaginary Cindy Williams: “I’m not afraid of death, but I am afraid of murder.” And why are Martin Stett (a young Harrison Ford) and his boss (Robert Duvall) so interested in this recording? Keep on watching and listening here as Coppola and Hackman will not let you down.