Finding ‘classics’ to watch that will broaden your knowledge of film is difficult sometimes. I get that. What if you find it boring? What if you don’t love it as much as everyone else seems to?
Here are my top tips for choosing classics that you’re guaranteed to love:
- Choose a film with a topic that you’re interested in. Love history? Go for a historical classic like Spartacus.
- Choose a film with at least one person that you recognise in it. You know Marilyn Monroe, right? Give Some Like It Hot a go.
- Not a fan of black & white? There are plenty of ‘classics’ that are in full technicolour! Try Rear Window or Taxi Driver.
I used these criteria to pick out this movie, and it worked!
The Conversation is set in the height of the Cold War paranoia era – something that I have been interested in since I studied it in high school. It has Gene Hackman and Harrison Ford at the forefront, so that ticks off the recognisable face box. And, although I’m not one to be picky about black & white, it’s in colour! Nailed it.
This is a movie which is evidently so culturally and historically significant. Francis Ford Coppola is the absolute master of tension; with The Conversation, you can practically smell the paranoia leaking through the screen.
Coppola uses a terrific soundtrack to aid this tension, as he does with most of his movies. In this one, the use of simple piano music is so romantic and wistful that it’s truly beautiful and jarringly juxtaposing to listen to. Although quite different to the events shown, it seems incredibly apt to use this minimalist sound against the chaos of the moving pictures.
As many classics are, this is a really, really slow burn and it can be super challenging at times. However, it is easy to understand the significance this movie holds, and it doesn’t take a genius to see why it has a spot in the National Film Registry. Yeah, it can be kind of boring but…
BAM. Right at the end, I absolutely jumped out of my skin. It was so silent and then IT ABSOLUTELY FUCKING WAS NOT. Great use of silence – another staple of Coppola’s movies.
Will you enjoy this movie? That depends. If you follow the steps I gave you above, maybe. I wouldn’t recommend that you watch this unless you truly have a strong interest in history and/or The Cold War. I wouldn’t be surprised however if there are history classes somewhere that show this movie as part of their curriculum.
It is so culturally significant and poignant that it may act as a good aid for your thesis research, if nothing else.
The Conversation is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Sky Cinema.
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The Quayside Review 
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