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steely3000
Reviews
The Conversation (1974)
Wonderful acting all around
First of all, let me mention that I feel this has to be one of Gene Hackman's best roles. I remember reading he mentioned this was his least favorite role, as he plays a character completely opposite of who he is in real life. That is true acting, when you can play a person completely different from yourself, and he does it so well. His character of Harry is extremely reclusive, easily offended by others' remarks and actions, manically insecure, and is too much into his work to take life a little less seriously.
John Cazale and Teri Garr play characters who show that they want Harry to open up, and finally get to the point where they are fed up and can't take his reclusiveness anymore. Harry then regrets his actions towards them, and appears he wants to make amends with both. We never find out if he does open up more with them, but he probably doesn't.
But it's Allen Garfield's role as Bernie which really makes this movie for me. Bernie is as slimy as they come. He steals, cheats, lies, and does his best to make others around him feel small. He can't stand being #2 to Harry. He is just as insecure as Harry, but in different ways. Harry is afraid to reveal his feelings, whereas Bernie demands respect for his so-called expertise.
I think Bernie is the scariest person in the movie, because of what he is capable of doing, and the fact that everyone knows it. Bernie would stop at nothing to get his cheese. And Garfield plays this role beautifully; he doesn't look intimidating or menacing, but you can see inside that Bernie wants you to go down, so he can step on you and brag about it later.
In fact the acting all around in this movie is wonderful, and it does make a good thriller. The only flaw with the movie is that is has aged badly over the years, so it might not connect with a younger audience as much as it would with a Nixonian era audience like me.
Also it is tough to differentiate between Harry's dreams and reality, but that helps make this movie good; asking what really happened in real time. The ending of the movie is great: it's funny, sad, and disturbing to witness schizophrenia put to its extreme.
Frankly this movie is not for everyone, especially those Hackman fans who are looking for a French Connection-ish performance. It isn't there. There is no violence or sex or vulgar language to speak of. It's not an action picture, no chase scenes. Though it takes place in San Francisco, there is very little scenic footage.
The movie is more of a study of human nature, how some people are, how others react to it, and what it all can lead to. And also the movie plot itself is quite true-to-life; everyone who sees this movie knows this stuff goes on, even today, as it did in the early '70s.
Your First Impression (1961)
re: Dennis James
I remember this game show. It was similar to "What's My Line", in that there were would be a celebrity, and the panelists (3 I think) would try to guess who it is, by asking a series of "fill in the blank" questions. The panelists would be given a choice of like 5 celebrities of who it might be, and would try to guess who the mystery guest was.
What I remember most is that Dennis James was one of the regular panelists, and he always guessed correctly who the celebrity was. He was never wrong! And once on a Christmas show, the mystery guest was, of course, Santa Claus. And not only did Dennis James guess that it was Santa, but he guessed that it was producer Monte Hall dressed in the Santa suit! And he was right! I became a big Dennis James fan because of this show.