This disc fired up my interest in David Shire's piano score, a great jazzy effort that perfectly encapsulates the ambiguity and intimacy of the film itself.

Coppola describes on his commentary track that he hired his then brother-in-law David Shire, who was eager to show off his orchestrational abilities only to find that Coppola wanted something really really small. It didn't matter much, though, as Shire's score turned out to be perfectly suited to the film.

Murch, in his commentary track, mentions that working with Shire was fantastic because much of the score was written and performed by Shire before the film was shooting, and they could play the music to the actors on the set and they could cut the film to it, all the while having Shire on hand to alter or tighten up a cue. Apparently Murch enjoyed working with Shire so much that on his first directing job he hired him.

Well, The Conversation is great, not only as an examination of privacy, but also its Antonionian riff on the subject of narrative. Hackman's performance is stunning, and Shire's score is wonderful.

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Hackman, as usual, is great, so watchable. I prefer him back in the 70's when he always played his parts with a raw realism alla Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection"..another classic.

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One question...Is "Enemy of the State" anything to do with "The Conversation"? Was it seen as an unofficial sequel to it or did it pay homage to it formally, as there seems to be a few similarities there in the theme of surveillance...also, both star Hackman.

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One of the most interesting aspects of The Conversation I've always found was that Hackman manages to portray Harry Caul with all of his ambiguities and contradictions to such a tee. When watching The Conversation you are not watching Gene Hackman, you are watching Harry Caul.

Shire's score often tells us what is going on with Harry without hitting us over the head with it. Harry is an intensely private man, but his life is empty. Shire's meandering piano often attaches itself inseparably to him.

For a perfect example, watch the end of the film when Harry is in the hotel room that he knows a horrible murder has occured in, but he can find no evidence of this. As he searches, the film is unscored. It isn't until he pauses with no idea what to try next that the music begins, allowing us to understand that the freneticism of his initial search is over and that he is now going to review the situation.

I also love the way the film ends, with Harry playing his saxophone and Shire's unrelated theme playing over the end credits, mingling, mixing, separating...