Marathon Man

Marathon Man

Hoffman plays the likable columbia graduate student and marathon runner of the title unwittingly trapped in a terrifying drama revolving around a murderous nazi fugitve. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Dustin Hoffman Laurence Olivier Run time: 125 minutes Rating: R Director: John Schlesinger

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A CLASSIC of the Suspense genre!
“Marathon Man” is a CLASSIC of the Suspense genre and my favorite Dustin Hoffman film. I always thought that this movie and “The French Connection” would make the GREATEST double feature! Both are Suspense CLASSICS of the 70’s.

Roy Scheider has always been an UNDERRATED actor, and here he gives his usual PERFECT performance. Who better to play the former Nazi villain than the actor that many (including Hoffman himself) consider to be one of the GREATEST of the 20th century, Sir Laurence Olivier?

If you want to see one of the GREATEST Suspense films ever made, this is WELL worth your time. You won’t soon forget it.

“Is it safe?”

5 Stars THEY DO NOT MAKE MOVIES THIS GOOD ANY MORE
The conspiracy movies included two fictional stories, “Marathon Man” and “The Parallax View”, as well as the Watergate movie, “All the President’s Men” (which Robert Redford produced after giving long consideration to a movie about how Kennedy stole the 1960 election?not!).

“Marathon Man” was directed by John Schlesinger, written by the great William Goldman (based on his novel), and produced by Bob Evans. Goldman, along with Towne, is considered one of the best screenwriters of all time. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1968) is an original screenplay that gets as much study as “Chinatown”, and his book “Adventures in the Screen Trade” is a must-read for industry insiders. “Marathon Man” stars Dustin Hoffman as a Columbia doctoral student, obsessed with his thesis about his father, who committed suicide when he was “victimized” by McCarthyism. His brother is Roy Scheider, a super-secret agent for an organization that handles, apparently, what the FBI cannot and the CIA will not. His pal is William DeVane, and he is in league with the devil, a former Nazi dentist named Christian Zsell (played to perfection by Laurence Olivier), based on Joseph Mengele. Zsell is also known as the “White Angel”. The plot revolves around millions of dollars worth of diamonds, smuggled to the U.S. by Zsell with DeVane’s (and Sheider’s) help. Hoffman accidentally gets involved and foils the plot. It is brilliant stuff in every way, shape and form, but coming on the heels of the Church hearings, the film plays on the public’s belief that the CIA is corrupt, bent more on money and power than protecting the interests of freedom. The anti-hero is Hoffman. The backstory of his persecuted Jewish father strengthens the myth that fine liberals of conscience were the victims of the McCarthy witch-hunt. Like all films depicting McCarthyism, the victim is fictional and there are no scenes based on real events. This is because actual scenes of actual “victims,” if they hold to the truth, will show actual Communists being caught in lies by public officials using perfectly normally and legal techniques of American justice.

3 Stars A prime example of the way highly styled entertainment should be…
Schlesinger made a great action-suspense film and married it to the artistry of unique talents… Hoffman was, by then, a dynamic, young and incredibly versatile film actor with three Academy Award nominations already under his belt for “The Graduate,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Lenny.”

But the key to “Marathon Man” was the chemistry between its stars… Perhaps one of the most gut-wrenching and most memorable scenes in the film comes when Hoffman is captured and tortured by Olivier who plays the role of a mean and vicious and sadistic Nazi war criminal, Christian Szell… Olivier’s performance resulted in a 1976 Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor…

In 1945, Szell ran the experimental camp at Auschwitz where they called him the White Angel… He was a dentist and could provide escape for any Jew who was willing to pay the price… He started out with gold, naturally, but very quickly worked his way up to diamonds…

As Szell saw the end early, he sneaked his brother into America with the diamonds… And they were right here, in New York, in a safe deposit-box until Szell’s brother got killed in a head-on collision with an oil truck…

Uniquely built, and with a marvelous, rugged face, Roy Scheider, well known for his strong performances in “The French Connection,” “Klute,” and “Jaws,” came on board as Hoffman’s mysterious businessman brother, getting the rare chance to play a character that’s both hero and villain… Doc is a fascinating guy because he chooses to work out his problems in a much different way than Dustin’s character does… He was very touched and very moved by his father’s death, but he abandoned all his hopes for whatever he intended to do and he became a spy, a killer, a very jaded personality…

In doing something truly suspenseful, Schlesinger accomplished a film that’s largely about fear and it’s about pain and the infliction of pain because of fear… The thrilling sensation of great expectations came on the 47th Street in the diamond district in New York, where Schlesinger gets the best of it…

5 Stars A Day At The Dentist…
When I see Dustin Hoffman in newer movies of today, I forget that this same guy was in MARATHON MAN, as well as MIDNIGHT COWBOY and STRAW DOGS! MARATHON MAN has that 70s thriller feel that is unique to that decade. While there is plenty of suspense, mystery, and action, there is also a more human side to such films. Hoffman’s pain is not just physical. He is tortured in mind as well as body. His character’s relationships w/ his brother (Roy Scheider) and his girlfriend (Marthe Keller) are emotional and real. This makes the loss all the more agonizing, and the final