Adapted by William Goldman from his own novel (although the ending was reportedly changed to his considerable dissatisfaction), John Schlesinger's 1976 film Marathon Man is famous for a certain dental torture film. However, there's far more to it than that: Schlesinger's first thriller, it shows the versatile director's talent for turning his hand to different genres and remains and suspenseful and well-made film.
Marathon Man has a gripping, complex plot concerning Nazi war criminals, stolen diamonds, double agents, and a slightly odd protagonist in the form of graduate student Babe Levy. The first half of the film deals with the fallout of the death of Nazi war criminal Christian Szell's brother, who was responsible for managing Szell's safety deposit box full of Jewish diamonds, leading to the evil old Nazi emerging from hiding in South America. The plot follows Babe's older brother - and secret agent - Doc as he survives several assassination attempts, whilst in parallel the character of Babe is introduced. Once Doc comes face to face with Szell - with fatal consequences for the former - the second half of the film begins, as Szell wrongly assumes that Babe knows more than he actually does, with unfortunate consequences for both of them.
The characterisation is a testament to Goldman's writing, with both Szell and Babe proving well written, as well as supporting characters such as Doc and the treacherous Janeway. There are lots of nice touches in the screenplay, including Doc and Janeway's subtly played homosexual relationship, and Babe's obsession with his disgraced father's suicide. The ending, changed against Goldman's will, doesn't entirely make sense, given that Babe has already shot three men dead by this point and yet is unable to kill a man who has tortured him, but Szell's fate - stabbed to death accidentally by his own wrist-knife whilst scrabbling for diamonds - has a certain poetic justice to it.
With a strong screenplay to work with, the cast is exceptional. Dustin Hoffman gives a typically naturalistic performance as Babe Levy, an awkward and obsessive marathon runner, whilst Laurence Olivier, despite being very ill at the time, gives an astonishingly chilling performance as Szell and pretty much steals the show. He's particularly impressive during the last half hour, as Szell realises that he is surrounded by Holocaust survivors and brutally slashes the throat of a man who recognises him. Roy Scheider meanwhile convinces as a tough but not indestructible secret agent and looks genuinely in pain when Doc is attacked by a garrotte-wielding assassin, whilst William Devane is both slimy and charismatic at the same time as Janeway.
Schlesinger proves more than capable of rising to the challenge of directing a thriller, despite having allegedly only accepted the project because he was worried that his Hollywood career was over. The opening lengthy scene of Klaus Szell getting into a feud with another driver, resulting in the death of both, is a brilliantly shot action sequence. Schlesinger does a very impressive job throughout, with lots of arresting visual touches such as the close-up of the bomb doll's eyes creaking open before it detonates. Then there is the football, the grainy and stark flashbacks to Babe's father's suicide, the mugging scene juxtaposed with non-diagetic classical music, and the scene of Babe being interrogated after Doc's murder during which we don't see the faces of the men questioning him. The finale is shot in a water treatment works, which makes for a highly effective setting.
Cinematographer Conrad Hall makes great use of the then-new Steadicam during the running scenes, and there's a great, dramatic score from Michael Small. Heavily cut before the film's release, the dental torture scenes are actually better for it, due to a combination of Szell's quiet, methodical menace, and Babe's screams of agony, leaving most of the unpleasantness to the audience's imagination. This is perhaps why most people remember those scenes more than anything else in Marathon Man; nevertheless, they are far from being the only moments of merit in this very solid movie.
Marathon Man has a gripping, complex plot concerning Nazi war criminals, stolen diamonds, double agents, and a slightly odd protagonist in the form of graduate student Babe Levy. The first half of the film deals with the fallout of the death of Nazi war criminal Christian Szell's brother, who was responsible for managing Szell's safety deposit box full of Jewish diamonds, leading to the evil old Nazi emerging from hiding in South America. The plot follows Babe's older brother - and secret agent - Doc as he survives several assassination attempts, whilst in parallel the character of Babe is introduced. Once Doc comes face to face with Szell - with fatal consequences for the former - the second half of the film begins, as Szell wrongly assumes that Babe knows more than he actually does, with unfortunate consequences for both of them.
The characterisation is a testament to Goldman's writing, with both Szell and Babe proving well written, as well as supporting characters such as Doc and the treacherous Janeway. There are lots of nice touches in the screenplay, including Doc and Janeway's subtly played homosexual relationship, and Babe's obsession with his disgraced father's suicide. The ending, changed against Goldman's will, doesn't entirely make sense, given that Babe has already shot three men dead by this point and yet is unable to kill a man who has tortured him, but Szell's fate - stabbed to death accidentally by his own wrist-knife whilst scrabbling for diamonds - has a certain poetic justice to it.
With a strong screenplay to work with, the cast is exceptional. Dustin Hoffman gives a typically naturalistic performance as Babe Levy, an awkward and obsessive marathon runner, whilst Laurence Olivier, despite being very ill at the time, gives an astonishingly chilling performance as Szell and pretty much steals the show. He's particularly impressive during the last half hour, as Szell realises that he is surrounded by Holocaust survivors and brutally slashes the throat of a man who recognises him. Roy Scheider meanwhile convinces as a tough but not indestructible secret agent and looks genuinely in pain when Doc is attacked by a garrotte-wielding assassin, whilst William Devane is both slimy and charismatic at the same time as Janeway.
Schlesinger proves more than capable of rising to the challenge of directing a thriller, despite having allegedly only accepted the project because he was worried that his Hollywood career was over. The opening lengthy scene of Klaus Szell getting into a feud with another driver, resulting in the death of both, is a brilliantly shot action sequence. Schlesinger does a very impressive job throughout, with lots of arresting visual touches such as the close-up of the bomb doll's eyes creaking open before it detonates. Then there is the football, the grainy and stark flashbacks to Babe's father's suicide, the mugging scene juxtaposed with non-diagetic classical music, and the scene of Babe being interrogated after Doc's murder during which we don't see the faces of the men questioning him. The finale is shot in a water treatment works, which makes for a highly effective setting.
Cinematographer Conrad Hall makes great use of the then-new Steadicam during the running scenes, and there's a great, dramatic score from Michael Small. Heavily cut before the film's release, the dental torture scenes are actually better for it, due to a combination of Szell's quiet, methodical menace, and Babe's screams of agony, leaving most of the unpleasantness to the audience's imagination. This is perhaps why most people remember those scenes more than anything else in Marathon Man; nevertheless, they are far from being the only moments of merit in this very solid movie.