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Harry Caul: [from dream sequence] He'll kill you if he gets a chance. I'm not afraid of death. I am afraid of murder.
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Martin Stett: I'm not following you, I'm looking for you. There's a big difference.
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[about a bum on a park bench]
Ann: Every time I see one of those old guys, I always think the same thing.
Mark: What do you think?
Ann: I always think that he was once somebody's baby boy. Really, I do. I think he was once somebody's baby boy, and he had a mother and a father who loved him, and now there he is, half dead on a park bench, and where are his mother or his father, all his uncles now?
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[repeated line from the recording]
Mark: He'd kill us if he got the chance.
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Martin Stett: [Final Line] We'll be listening to you.
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Ann: This conversation is over.
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[last lines]
Martin Stett: [on the phone] We know that you know, Mr. Caul. For your own sake, don't get involved any further. We'll be listening to you.
[plays back recording of Harry playing saxophone]
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Stan: What a STUPID conversation.
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Mark: Does it bother you?
Ann: What?
Mark: Walking around in circles.
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[first lines]
Passerby: Well, I want to go over to my place and start, you know, getting it on...
Ann: Oh, that's terrible.
Mark: Yeah. Do you ever, uh... ballet?
Ann: Be thankful. Do you have a quarter for them?
Mark: Yes, I do.
Ann: [gives it to street band]
Ann: What about me?
Mark: You'll see.
Ann: A lot of fun you are. You're supposed to tease me, give hints, make me guess, you know.
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Ann: I can't stand it. I can't stand it any more.
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Harry Caul: [upset, walking over to Martin seated] What are you doing here?
Martin Stett: Take it easy I'm just a messenger. I brought you a drink.
Harry Caul: I don't want your drink. Why are you following me?
Martin Stett: I'm not following you. I'm looking for you, big difference.
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Stan: Ha, ha. He's a nice guy for a cop.
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Harry Caul: I don't care what they're talkin' about. All I want is a nice, fat recording.
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Harry Caul: Why are you asking me all these questions?
Amy: 'Cause it's your birthday.
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Martin Stett: Some nice Christmas cookies there I made. You want one? They're good.
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Harry Caul: You still married?
Meredith: Oh, I don't know. Probably.
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Harry Caul: If there's one sure fire rule that I have learned in this business is... I don't know anything about human nature. I don't know anything about curiousity. That's not part of what I do.
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Harry Caul: Listen, did you hear about the fag wiretapper who could only tap to princess' phone?
Bernie Moran: How?
Harry Caul: Uhh.
Bernie Moran: Made that up yourself, huh? It's pretty funny.
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Harry Caul: - Would you... If you were a girl who'd waited for someone...
Meredith: - You can trust me.
Harry Caul: - Well you never really knew when he was going to come to see you. You just lived in a room alone, and you knew nothing about him. And if you loved him, you were patient with him, and even though he didn't dare ever tell you anything about himself personally, even though he may have loved you, would you...
Meredith: - Would I what?
Harry Caul: - Would you go back to him?
Meredith: - Well, how would I know? How would I know that he loved me?
Harry Caul: - You'd have no way of knowing.
The Conversation Quotes
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Mortimer 2022-04-21 09:02:07
Multiple perspectives, multiple camera movements, scratching noises and "dialogues" come and go, all these trivial things are edited together in a precise and poetic way - this is probably the best movie opening I've ever seen one. Several times back to the eavesdropping scene and recording, "Zoom" has done it, but what Coppola completed here is a dialysis about monitoring and moral sense, listening and talking, and even the spiritual level. There are so many games that walk between reality and fantasy, such as breaking the door and entering the hotel room until the bright red blood pours out of the toilet, which is both suspenseful and convincing. All the character "dialogues", quarrels, confessions, seductions, flow in a slow blues rhythm. Saying that the characters are "crazy" is a bit too much, it should be just obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the "Kafka"-style madness at the end combined with the swinging overhead shot of the simulated "monitor" forced Harry, who was easily blowing the saxophone under the camera, into an impossible situation. Out of the passive predicament, he is obviously not relaxed and happy, but it is a realistic living state of the characters after being squeezed heavily, a visual rhetoric of both inside and outside.
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Adonis 2021-12-08 08:01:44
NB's opening, first-class narrative editing and sound and picture coordination, suggesting a panic soundtrack, seemingly slow rhythm but set off a tense atmosphere, coupled with Hackman's superb performance, it is simply a perfect movie. The ending is again impressive!
