Rialto Pictures is bringing Francis Ford Coppola’s Palme d’Or winning 1974 movie The Conversation back to theaters, starting March 20 at New York’s Film Forum and Landmark’s Nuart Theatre in L.A., with newly struck 35mm prints personally supervised by the six-time Oscar winning filmmaker.

The platform release will offer theaters an alternate DCP restoration remixed in Dolby 5.1 by 3x Oscar winning sound designer Walter Murch.

The new poster for the 2020 re-release of ‘The Conversation’ Rialto

Written, produced and directed by Coppola, The Conversation stars Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, a paranoid, secretive surveillance expert who has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple, on whom he is spying, will be murdered. Upon re-hearing the tapes, however, Caul believes he may be putting the couple in danger if he turns the material over to his client (Robert Duvall, in an unbilled cameo). But what one hears can ultimately turn out to be quite different from what was actually recorded. Pic also stars a number thespians who continually worked with Coppola throughout his career including late Godfather actor John Cazale, Cindy Williams (who starred in the Coppola Zoetrope produced American Graffiti, Frederic Forrest (Coppola’s Apocalypse Now), Teri Garr (Coppola’s One From the Heart and Executive produced The Black Stallion), and Harrison Ford (American Graffiti).

“I’ve always been especially proud of The Conversation, partly because it was from my own original story and screenplay” says Coppola. “I count it among the most personal of all my films and I’m happy the movie became the very thing it was about — invasion of privacy and its erosive impact on both victims and perpetrators. This was my goal when I conceived it over 40 years ago, and to my surprise, the idea still resonates today. I’m glad Rialto is bringing the film back to theaters so people can experience it the way it was first presented, on the big screen.”

In addition to winning the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, The Conversation was nominated for three Oscars including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Murch and Art Rochester for Best Sound, as well as four Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay. The pic also garnered accolades and nominations from the BAFTA Awards, the National Board of Review, and a Best Director award from the National Society of Film Critics. In 1995, The Conversation was selected for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Fred Roos co-produced The Conversation, David Shire wrote the music, production design was by Dean Tavoularis with cinematography by Bill Butler.

Below is the current rollout for The Conversation:

March 20 – April 2 New York, NY | FILM FORUM (New 35mm Print Supervised by Francis Ford Coppola)

March 20 – 26 Los Angeles, CA | LANDMARK’S NUART THEATRE (New 35mm Print Supervised by Francis Ford Coppola)

March 20 Berkeley, CA | BAMPFA (New 35mm Print Supervised by Francis Ford Coppola)

April 3 – 5 Portland, OR | THE HOLLYWOOD THEATRE (New 35mm Print Supervised by Francis Ford Coppola)

April 5 Houston, TX | ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA LACENTERRA

April 5 Lubbock, TX | ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA

April 5 El Paso, TX | ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA MONTECILLO

April 6 – 9 Durham, NC | THE CAROLINA THEATRE

April 10 – 12 Minneapolis, MN | THE TRYLON CINEMA (New 35mm Print Supervised by Francis Ford Coppola)

April 10 – 16 Boston, MA | LANDMARK’S KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA

April 17 – 23 Washington, DC | LANDMARK’S E STREET CINEMA

May 2 – 3 Dallas, TX | THE TEXAS THEATRE

May 22 – 24 & 26 Austin, TX | AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY (New 35mm Print Supervised by Francis Ford Coppola)

June 12 – 14 Santa Fe, NM | CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS

July 20 Princeton, NJ | PRINCETON GARDEN THEATRE