Rating of
4/4
"He'd kill us if he got the chance."
Arbogast1960 - wrote on 03/28/08
It is truly stunning that, in the same year, Coppola released both this film and The Godfather Part II. Add in The Godfather from two years prior and the man made three masterpieces in as many years. How can this possibly be the same person who directed Jack? Hackman is wonderful in a slightly different role, a quiet, lonely, socially inept surveillance expert who happens to be incapable of securing his own privacy from invasion. Like Blow-Up with sound instead of pictures, the film revolves around a recording of a couple's conversation seemingly indicating a plot to have them murdered. As Hackman becomes increasingly obsessed with illuminating the recording's meaning, the audience is long kept guessing as to what is going on, given the protagonist's unreliability. And like Rear Window, the film examines the dangers of prying too deeply into the lives of others. A slow-paced film, but worth your patience.
