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cinema.indiana.edu
The Art and Legacy of Roger Corman 25
cinema.indiana.edu
The Conversation
(1974) Directed by Frances Ford Coppola
March 8 - Saturday - 6:30 p.m.
Considered one of Frances Ford Coppola's masterpieces, The Conversation was first conceived in the mid-
1960s while Coppola listened to director Irvin Kershner discuss espionage and state-of-the-art surveillance
tactics. He set-out to make a small, personal film about privacy as a modern horror film, centering on the
personal and psychological life of the eavesdropper rather than his victims. The film's plot has influences
of Rear Window and Antonioni's Blow-Up; a surveillance professional (Gene Hackman) is hired to tap and
monitor a couple's home. He uncovers what he believes to be a murder plot and becomes obsessed with
the couple, his dilemma, and ultimately the paranoia that consumes him. (35mm. 113 min. Rated PG.)
The Terror
(1963) Directed by Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman,
Jack Hill, and Jack Nicholson
March 8 - Saturday - 9:30 p.m.
Lieutenant Duvalier (Jack Nicholson, in one of his first starring roles) is rescued from the Napoleonic Wars
by a mysterious woman (Sandra Knight), who he soon traces back to the gothic castle of Baron von Leppe
(Boris Karloff). Duvalier discovers a twisted plot involving witches, ghosts, and doppelgangers. Made in a
piecemeal fashion over nine months, The Terror began as Corman's attempt to shoot an additional film in
four days using a contractually bound Karloff and standing sets from The Raven, but was later completed by
a handful of his soon-to-be-famous assistant directors. (35mm. 81 min. Not Rated.)