The Conversation exemplifies the art and theory of sound in cinema, especially the opening long take zoom shot in Union Square in San Francisco.
A topic we often discuss is the film's exploration of surveillance. Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is the best of the best when it comes to secretly recording or "bugging" conversations. During a small party in Harry's studio, we learn from his friend, Bernie (Allen Garfield), that Harry is known in New York for the "welfare fund 68" job, where he secretly recorded a conversation having to do with a bogus fund run by the teamster's president. Bernie asks Harry how he secretly tapped the teamster's president and his accountant--a conversation that occurred on a boat. Of course, Harry does not share his technique. But we do learn that three people were killed because of the conversation Harry had recorded.
Little does Harry know that Bernie has planted a pen mike and transmitter on him.
A question I asked my students: does Bernie's pen mike speak more to our current times in terms of big data and surveillance? Here, it is worth noting Mark Andrejevic's article, "The Twenty-First Century Telescreen." The telescreen is from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The telescreen is a television that watches you.
Although Bernie's pen mike and transmitter is not a screen, it does demonstrate how a pervasive object such as a pen can potentially be used to monitor us (not unlike how companies can track our purchasing behaviors online). This is a different type of surveillance - an apparatus that does not make one aware that they are constantly being watched, which brings me to the film's shocking twist at the end.
The film's final scene shows Harry playing his saxophone in his apartment. He receives a call from the Director's assistant, Martin (Harrison Ford), who tells Harry that: "we'll be listening." Martin plays back a recording of Harry playing his saxophone. Of course, Harry is shocked to learn that he has been secretly bugged (again). Harry rips his apartment apart looking for the bug, which he never finds.