Gene Hackman plays Harry Caul, an expert surveillance man, who during a routine wire-tapping job hears snatches of conversation which make him believe a young couple is in danger. The more Harry tries to discover the secret surrounding the couple, the more he descends into a nightmare of secrecy, betrayal and murder, all taking place amidst a world of moral ambivalence. Influenced by the Watergate scandals of the early 1970’s, “The Conversation” is a tense and excellently edited suspense thriller. It is also Coppola’s most anguished and personal film.