An unqualified success, a complex, reverberating study of a man trapped by guilt.

It is a superior movie, a dynamic social document, and an exemplary public service. In every way, a Kilimanjaro among motion pictures.

The Conversation is driven by an inner logic. It's a little thin, because the logic is the working out of one character's obsession, but it's a buggy movie that can get to you so that when it's over you really feel you're being bugged.

Very much a piece of its time, snuggling up nicely to other paranoia thrillers like The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor.