The Conversation (1974)

Set in San Francisco, a surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) is working on a case for a client (Robert Duvall) that involves recording the conversation of a couple (Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest) casually walking around a public square. The surveillance expert becomes increasingly disturbed by this particular job, mainly because of his own guilt of a prior surveillance job that ended in three murders. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, quite simply this is the best film ever made about paranoia (not that there have been a whole lot of others). Playing an emotionally detached person limits the amount of emotions an actor can tap into which often translates into a dull performance. Here, Gene Hackman (shockingly not nominated for a best actor Oscar) gives a career best performance. He manages to give us glimpses of his character's  deeply buried feelings and his disconnected responses as well as his own frustrations at his stunted emotional skills. He emerges as a tragic figure. Coppola creates an intense atmosphere of a society where privacy no longer exists. As resonant today as it was 45 years ago! The cast includes Harrison Ford, John Cazale, Teri Garr, Allen Garfield and Elizabeth MacRae.