The Conversation

1974 drama

Rating: 17/20

Plot: This prequel to Superman explains the origins of supervillian Lex Luther before he met Ned Beatty and started sporting towels on the big screen.

Great psychological thriller about a paranoid surveillance guy. It's the kind of thriller that is really only thrilling in your head. It starts creepily and pulls you in before developing mysteriously and ominously. Paced deliberately, Hackman's character develops and becomes more and more desperate until a crescendo at the end. I like how the scenes with Lex Luther's toying with the recording are edited: little snippets of the titled conversation with flashbacks and different camera viewpoints of the opening scene. This movie has a sneaky tension that I really like, and I think Gene Hackman is great in it.