The Conversation

Selected by the Sound Branch. 

Selected by the Sound Branch. 

Francis Ford Coppola wrote and directed this unnerving paranoid thriller between production of his two Godfather films, with Gene Hackman as a San Francisco surveillance expert who accidentally uncovers evidence of an imminent murder. Few films have featured sound as such a key component of their storyline, and three-time Oscar winner Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient) served as both supervising film editor and sound mixer, working in both capacities to build remarkable tension. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Coppola’s original screenplay, and Sound (Murch, Arthur Rochester). 

DIRECTED BY: Francis Ford Coppola. WRITTEN BY: Francis Ford Coppola. WITH: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest. 1974. 113 min. USA. Color. English. Rated PG. DCP. 

This program is made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 
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