Harry Caul, a surveillance expert in San Francisco, specializes in wiretapping services. He and his team are hired by a client, who identifies himself as "the Director", to eavesdrop on a couple walking through See more

• Gene Hackman as Harry R. Caul
• John Cazale as Stanley "Stan" Ross
• Allen Garfield as William P. "Bernie" Moran
• Cindy Williams as … See more

Principal photography began November 27, 1972, and finished in late February 1973. Coppola has cited Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966) as a key influence on his conceptualization of the film's themes, such as surveillance versus participation, and … See more

Box office
The film had a $1,600,000 budget and grossed $4,420,000 in the U.S. Various rereleases over the years have brought the film's gross to $4.7 million.
Critical response See more

According to film critic Kim Newman, the 1998 film Enemy of the State, which also stars Gene Hackman as co-protagonist, could be construed as a "continuation of The Conversation". Hackman's character Edward Lyle in Enemy of the State closely resembles Caul: he … See more

• List of American films of 1974
• List of films featuring surveillance
• Blow Out, a 1981 Brian De Palma film that is similar in content See more

• The Conversation essay by Peter Keough at National Film Registry
• The Conversation at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Conversation at IMDb
• The Conversation at the See more