THE CONVERSATION: The Series
August 7th, 2008 at 01:23pm Will Pfeifer
According to a report in Variety, AMC is developing a TV series based on the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola movie THE CONVERSATION. To quoth the article…
“The TV project will be set in the early 1970s — emulating the time period of the original thriller — and center on electronic surveillance expert Harry Caul, played in the film by Gene Hackman.”
If you’ve never seen the movie THE CONVERSATION, you’re missing out. It’s one of the best films of the 1970s, easily ranking right up there with Coppola’s more well-known films of that era, THE GODFATHER and THE GODFATHER PART 2. Hack gives one of his best performances as Harry, a withdrawn expert in audio surveillance. The cast also includes the late John Cazale (who played Fredo in the GODFATHER films), a young Harrison Ford, Teri Garr and Cindy Williams, a few years before she became a TV star on LAVERNE & SHIRLEY.
The movie also co-stars a woman named Phoebe Alexander, an actress with very few film credits but whom I actually knew briefly as a kid. She taught a bit of theater to my church’s youth group, and we worked on a never-staged play. If I had known she’d worked with Coppola and Hackman, I would’ve asked her about it, but back in the late 1970s, I was just some dumb kid who’d never heard of THE CONVERSATION. Too bad.
Entry Filed under: TV news, Classic movies
4 Comments Add your own
1. Mack | August 7th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
It’s amazing to me that Coppola made four classic films (THE GODFATHER, THE CONVERSATION, THE GODFATHER PART 2 and then APOCALYPSE NOW) in a row.
2. Will Pfeifer | August 7th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
It’s an amazing run — and THE CONVERSATION and GODFATHER PART II came out the same year, 1974. Wow.
3. Jerry | August 9th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
My friends and I have a long running e-mail survey/game that we pass around each week with a new film related question. A few months ago the question was “Which currently living Director has fallen the farthest (greatest to worst) in their career based solely on the films they’ve made?”
Coppola won.
(Or I guess he lost…)
Others mentioned:
George Lucas (my choice)
John Landis
Quentin Tarantino
Wes Anderson (I wouldn’t say so)
John Milius
Werner Herzog (Again, I wouldn’t say so.)
The Zucker/Abrahams crew
John McTiernan
John Carpenter
David Fincher
Tony Scott (IMHO, I don’t think he made anything good enough to qualify.)
William Friedkin
Peter Bogdanovich
Any additions?
4. Will Pfeifer | August 11th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I’d say Coppola wins in a landslide. From THE GODFATHER, GODFATHER II, THE CONVERSATION and APOCALYPSE NOW to …well, what? JACK? And that YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH that barely got a release (and got lousy reviews). Talk about the mighty falling.
Landis is a good pic, along with Carpenter, Bogdanovich and Lucas (and how!), but I’d disagree strongly on Herzog (GRIZZLY MAN, for one, is a brilliant film, and his latest is supposed to be very good), Fincher (ZODIAC is arguably his best film, and BENJAMIN BUTTON looks to be excellent) and Anderson (the more I watch THE DARJEELING LIMITED, the more I like it.)
Great question, Jerry!
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