The Conversation

The Conversation
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Francis Ford Coppola
Written by	Francis Ford Coppola
Produced by	Francis Ford Coppola
Starring	Gene Hackman John Cazale Allen Garfield Cindy Williams Frederic Forrest
Cinematography	Bill Butler
Edited by	Walter Murch Richard Chew
Music by	David Shire
Production company	The Directors Company
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	April 7, 1974 (1974-04-07)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.6 million
Box office	$4.4 million

The Conversation is a 1974 American neo-noir^[1] mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robert Duvall. Hackman portrays a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential murder.

The Conversation premiered at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest prize, and was released theatrically on April 7, 1974, by Paramount Pictures to critical acclaim but box office disappointment, grossing $4.4 million on a $1.6 million budget. The film received three nominations at the 47th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound.

In 1995, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[2]