The Conversation (1974)

This movie is considered one of the seminal films of the 1970s, but although I had seen it previously, I never really "got" it before my most recent viewing.  Gene Hackman is definitely the whole show and carries the movie as the surveillance expert who makes the mistake of getting involved with the objects of his team's snooping, a young couple played by Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams.  He begins to fear for their safety after an earlier incident back in his New York days left several innocent dead.  The film is redolent with Hackman's paranoia and the terrific plot twist results in a powerful and truly frightening conclusion.  Francis Ford Coppola wrote, produced and directed the film and in its way it is every bit as good as his Godfather movies, albeit on a much smaller scale.  It is also rather amusing to see Harrison Ford in a minor role which makes one wonder how he actually managed to have the amazing career that has followed.