MovieChat Forums > The Conversation (1974) Discussion > Scene with Hackman, Duvall, Ford

Scene with Hackman, Duvall, Ford

posted 11 years ago by garrettok13
3 replies | jump to latest

I was watching this the other day and chuckling to myself at the scene where Hackman gets paid by Robert Duvall and Harrison Ford. I thought "Who would have guessed in 1974 that all these years later the 30 year old guy playing the assistant with his back turned to the camera for most of the scene would become the most famous actor of the 3 legends here?" I bet if you told Coppola that his pal Lucas was gonna make Harry Ford the most successful movie star of all time in terms of box office Coppola would have dropped Martin Sheen like a hot potato and cast Ford as the lead in Apocalypse Now, any of his movies. Coppola had such awful money issues for most of his career (Which Twixt aside, that career is DEAD) he was probably kicking himself for not investing in Mr. Han Solo/Indiana Jones.

I think it would have been hilarious to see Harrison Ford become a superstar after Star Wars/Indiana Jones but with a contract to appear in American Zoetrope films like One From The Heart and Rumble Fish. Harrison Ford IS Ponyboy Curtis in "The Outsiders"

[–] steely3000 11 years ago

I love scenes like that, when there are 3+ superstars in the same scene. It happens in "The man Who Shot Liberty Valance", when John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and James Stewart are all in the same scene, with Edmund O'Brien looking on in the background. Four Academy Award winning actors in the same scene! So cool.

Also in "Bad Day at Black Rock"...Lee Marvin again, Spencer Tracy, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine and Dean Jagger...5 Winners in the same scene.

In The Conversation, it is so cool to have the 3 actors, plus Teri Garr and John Cazale, not in the same scene but in the movie. Also the girl who was in Gomer Pyle, who played Gomer's girlfriend (yeah he had one) Lou-Ann. And Shirley, LaVerne's friend. Cool casting.

[–] johnston.scot 11 years ago

You probably already know this, but Coppola did cast Harrison Ford in "Apocalypse Now." He has a tiny role as an intelligence officer named (according to the name label on his uniform) "G. Lucas."

[–] jimmybags57 10 years ago

Coppola didn't give a damn about casting movie stars. He was only concerned with having actors who were best suited for their roles and were able to give a truthful portrayal of the character. I doubt he would change a thing if he could. Just because Harrison Ford turned out to be a box office cash cow doesn't mean he would've been right for a lead in a Coppola film.