Surveillance expert Harry Caul is convinced he has stumbled on a murder plot instigated by his corporate employers.
Sandwiched between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, this 1974 film set in San Francisco was a personal project for Coppola, his plan being to portray a crime purely though the point of view of a peripheral character. Gene Hackman’s restrained performance as seedy, withdrawn, sax-playing Harry runs against type. The making of this masterpiece coincided with the paranoia that accompanied the unravelling of Watergate and owes much to picture and sound editor Walter Murch, who won BAFTAs and was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the film.
