GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
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Search 713 spoiler-free recommendations from 1916 to 2026. Filter by the night you want—not the list you’re supposed to finish.

Direct film viewShowing master rank #184 on its own—not above the ranking.
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Artwork
DirectorAll directors

Most represented · 6+ films

More recurring directors · 3–5 films54
All directors · surname A–Z438
ActorAll actors

Most represented actors

Big Three membership
Major award winners

1 selected film

Master Rank balances Greatness, Engagement, and Ease. Sort by Greatness for the artistic-canon view.

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Cast:
View The Conversation film page
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

A surveillance specialist becomes troubled by the private conversation he has been hired to record.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

San Francisco surveillance expert Harry Caul records a young couple for an unidentified client using microphones placed around a crowded public square. A troubling phrase in the reconstructed conversation awakens his guilt and suspicion about how the recording may be used.

Why it belongs

Francis Ford Coppola makes sound editing an ethical drama, trapping Harry Caul inside fragments he can clarify technically but not ethically.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Repeated tape loops, shifting emphasis, wire mesh, glass, crowded frames, and David Shire's sparse piano keep perception unstable—Gene Hackman's withdrawn Harry reveals a man skilled at hearing others yet terrified of being known.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
BAFTA2 wins1975 · official BAFTA 1975 Film Awards results ↗

Plus 2 additional wins

No headline-category win to name

Cannes1 win1974 · official festival record ↗

Plus 1 additional win

No headline-category win to name

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for
FamilyFilm Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 250—AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness9.3
Engagement9.0
Ease8.4

English · PG
Narrative Feature
Mood: Tense & Absorbing