Marathon Man

10/8/19762h 5m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ One man's dangerous attempts to clear his father's name ~

Overview:

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

Director:

John Schlesinger

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$6,500,000.00

Revenue:

$21,709,020.00

Key words:

new york city
government
based on novel or book
nazi
diamond
conspiracy
theft
criminal
agent
dentist
rogue
safe deposit box
runner
graduate student
pistol
is it safe

Cast

Dustin Hoffman

~ as ~

Thomas 'Babe' Levy

Laurence Olivier

~ as ~

Dr. Christian Szell

Roy Scheider

~ as ~

Henry 'Doc' Levy

William Devane

~ as ~

Janeway

Marthe Keller

~ as ~

Elsa Opel

Fritz Weaver

~ as ~

Professor Biesenthal

Richard Bright

~ as ~

Karl

Marc Lawrence

~ as ~

Erhard

James Wing Woo

~ as ~

Chen

Lou Gilbert

~ as ~

Rosenbaum

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
7
As a man who quite literally loathes the very idea of a dentist, let alone actually going to visit one - this film adds an extra dimension of ghastliness to the already fairly hideous underlying premiss. That centres around "Babe" (Dustin Hoffman). He is an ordinary history student who is horrified when his older brother is brutally murdered. Why? Well, he sets out to investigate and before long is embroiled in a nazi-hunting plot to track down "Szell" (Sir Laurence Olivier) who is, himself, trying to stay one step ahead of some government agents whilst he tries to track down an huge cache of diamonds. It turns out that this evil creature thought the now deceased brother knew the location of the gems, and of course that puts "Babe" in quite considerable peril and so soon, he is next on the interrogation list. This torture gives the idea of getting a drilling an whole new meaning, as the sound of the dental whirring does more than enough to compensate for the lack of actual visuals. Though the ending is fitting, I found it all just a bit too convenient, but Hoffman is superb here, as are Sir Laurence and an international cast that add depth to this really quite disturbing plot. Even now, when we are so much more used to graphic violence and gore on screen, this is potently gruesome and effective.