Marathon Man
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Movie Reviews of Marathon Man
Movie Review: A Great American Thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Dustin Hoffman is Thomas Levy, history graduate student at Columbia and obsessive runner. He's obsessed too with the death of his father, another historian, who was driven to suicide by the McCarthy witch-hunts, a preoccupation distrusted both by his pompous and disagreeable professor (Fritz Weaver) and by his brother Henry (Roy Scheider). Henry is believed by Thomas to be a bigshot executive for an oil company but in fact he is an undercover agent working for some obscure special operations outfit. In this capacity he is embroiled with the plans of evil former Nazi torturer Dr. Christian Szell (Olivier) to come to America to pick up a collection of diamonds extorted from Jews during the war, now in a New York bank. Things seem to be turning nasty. People are trying to kill Henry. And indeed the bad guys seem to be taking a bit of an interest in Thomas too as well as in his new Swiss (or is she?) girlfriend Elsa (Marthe Keller).This great thriller is one of the highpoints of 1970 American cinema. Everyone involved is at the height of their powers. For both Hoffman and writer William Goldman it was project that followed "All the President's Men". For Scheider it followed fairly hot on the heels of "Jaws". And it's one of the high points in the career of distinguished British director John Schlesinger who died just a few months back. Schlesinger's direction is brilliant. The set pieces are extraordinarily well put together starting right at the front in a brilliant scene where an initially innocuous road rage incident turns into a catastrophic road accident. And the atmosphere of New York's streets is superbly captured throughout, in the scenes that track Hoffman's running forays, in the famous scene where former inmates of Auschwitz recognize Szell in the street; and throughout; indeed it counts as one of the great New York movies.
The acting is splendid too. Hoffman and Scheider on excellent form. Keller and the plot line involving her work less well and that is perhaps the movie's weakest aspect. But it's more than compensated by Olivier whose Dr Szell, a.k.a. "Der Weisse Engel", is one of the greatest and most frightening of screen baddies and makes Hannibal Lecter look like a pussycat. (A story I remember hearing about the movie that may very well be apocryphal but is still fun. Apparently when Hoffman was required to enter a room after supposedly having been out running, he would go running for real first to create the requisite exhausted, out of breath effect. Olivier, on having this explained to him, is said to have inquired: "Why not try ACTING, dear boy?"). And of course he gets centre-stage in one of the scariest scenes ever. "Jaws" played on our fears of large unseen marine predators; "Nightmare on Elm Street" on our fear of nightmares; "Arachnophobia" on our fear of spiders. But Goldman and Schlesinger are cleverer than any of these and tap into our deepest and most primal fear of all, fear of visiting the dentist, with unforgettable effect.
Movie Review: A Triumph of Urban Paranoia, Atmosphere, and Suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading and loving William Goldman's brilliant novel, I first saw MARATHON MAN (MM) in its initial theatrical release when I was 13 years old, and the years haven't diminished its power for me. Sure, the plot gets a little more convoluted than it absolutely needs to be, but in a way it's because Goldman's screen adaptation (with a little uncredited tweaking by Robert Towne) takes into account the all-too-human character flaws of his heroes and villains, and the mistakes people make when they're fearful and paranoid. The stellar cast, from Dustin Hoffman's Babe Levy, the nebbishy grad student-turned-avenger (you'd never know he was pushing 40 in real life) to Marthe Keller's vulnerable femme fatale Elsa to Oscar nominee Sir Laurence Olivier's imperious, coolly evil Christian Szell to William Devane's slick, shadowy agent Janeway, are uniformly superb, with Roy Scheider deserving a place in The Suave Hall of Fame for his portrayal of Doc Levy, a.k.a. government agent "Scylla." If Scheider hadn't been so charismatic and engaging, Doc's murder in mid-film wouldn't have such impact, and the movie would suffer for it. As powerful as the cast, script, and John Schlesinger's direction are, however, I think the special secret ingredient that gives MM its punch is its atmosphere. The naturalistic, sometimes washed-out color palette almost lends the film a black-and-white film noir look. Almost every person in the film is angry, cynical, emotionally wounded, and/or generally negative in some way. And what really struck me was that onscreen, it seems like chaos and disaster are exploding all over the world. Look at the riots and bombings taking place in France in early scenes with Doc and Janeway (nicely subtle homosexual subtext there, by the way). Also, if you listen carefully to newscasts in the background, you'll notice there's nothing but bad news: murders, suicides, all kinds of violence all over (including the "chicken" game between the old Jew and Szell's brother as the film begins). MM is by no means a happy film -- even when our hero wins, he's already lost so much his victory seems hollow indeed -- but it never fails to grab and haunt me each time I watch it. If you love the film, you'll want to own the DVD not only for the superb letterboxed print, but also for the terrific extras, including both new and vintage making-of documentaries with Hoffman, Scheider, Keller, Goldman, producer Robert Evans and other major MM players, as well as rare rehearsal footage and the original theatrical trailer.
Movie Review: THEY DO NOT MAKE MOVIES THIS GOOD ANY MORE
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
(...)
Movie Review: THEY DO NOT MAKE MOVIES THIS GOOD ANY MORE
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: No. The nerve here is almost dead. I want a new one.
Summary: 5 Stars
The amazing thing about Marathon Man (MM) is that it's still scary thirty years later. There's a certain style of these late '60's early to mid 70's movies. So some quick observations.
The war in Vietnam had left everyone distrustful of the government. Perhaps not so much the President (although we should have) but the President's men (Haldemann, Erlichmann, Magruder, Mitchell) and certainly the alphabet agencies. See for example Condor where Cliff Robertson is like Roy Scheider (Doc), hard working, loyal, manly, faithful . . . well, maybe not quite. French Connection. Bullit. The Dirty Harry series. It's the land of shadowy agencies.
Secondly, there's sex. There's a lot of sex in these movies because . . . we could have sex now. Naked guys and girls. People falling in love or at least heavy like, and jumping in the sack.
Thirdly, there's the horror of WWII that was only a generation away. So when Dr. Christian Szell (Olivier) ends up in the diamond district, some of the survivors of Dachau, Treblinka and Auschwitz recognize him. I didn't see it the first time but that might of been a good ending as well, i.e. Babe (Hoffman) misses the appointment to stop him but Szell is torn apart by the crowd.
What are the movies that explode in this new freedom of expression? Well. For me they are Five Easy Pieces, Dog Day (one of the all time best), Butch and Sundance, French Connection, Body Heat (Whew. Maybe the best), Godfather I and II, Postman (remake) Easy Rider (maybe for the soundtrack), the above mentioned Three Days of the Condor, Bullit and Cukoo's Nest. There's a lot more. Those are my favorites, and of course, MM.
So much to read in these films from that decade. So much left unsaid. Great directors. You know you got the feeling (OK, going out on a limb here) that they weren't interested in the $. It really was art. You might not like it but it wasn't an investment project. The movie was run by directors and actors, not lawyers and CPAs. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury