Marathon Man
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.95 You Save: $5.04 (34%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.95 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Marathon Man
Movie Review: Nazi war criminals may not make the best dentists...
Summary: 4 Stars
XXXXX
"Relief...discomfort. Now, which of these next apply, that decision is in your hands so...tell me, is it safe?"
The above quote is from this thriller movie that's based on the novel "Marathon Man" (1974) by William Goldman. Goldman also wrote the screenplay for this movie.
Briefly, Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is a graduate student of history who is also a marathon runner (thus the movie's title). Due to his brother "Doc" (Roy Scheider), he gets involved in a killing game involving a Nazi fugitive (Laurence Olivier) whose profession is dentistry. (The quote at the beginning of this review is what this Nazi dentist says to Babe while interrogating him.)
During the first hour of the movie, the viewer is not told what is going on. Everything is presented in bits and pieces. Some viewers may be discouraged by this. Be assured that everything is put together in the second hour. To get full enjoyment from this movie, I strongly recommend that you pay close attention to the first half of the movie.
Over-all, this movie has nail-biting suspense, plot twists, and an excellent, fever-pitched conclusion. The back-ground music adds to each scene.
The acting is excellent. Dustin Hoffman effectively carries the movie. However, kudos must go to Laurence Olivier as the war criminal. In fact, his performance was so good that it was nominated for an Academy Award (best actor in a supporting role).
It was only after the movie was over that I identified some problems. First, I couldn't understand the significance of some scenes. As well, the people involved in this movie are portrayed as being smart and cunning. However, they put themselves in dumb and dangerous situations. This seemed unrealistic to me.
Finally, the DVD (the one released in 2001) itself is perfect in picture and sound quality. It has four extras.
In conclusion, this movie is truly a thriller that's filled with suspense. Before ending this review, I ask again,
"Is it safe?"
(1975; 2 hr 5 min; wide screen; 50 scenes)
<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>
XXXXX
Movie Review: quirky psychological thriller, with superlative acting
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a near-great film about the unlikely vengeance by a graduate student. It strives to be deep, and the acting is first rate, but I didn't feel on re-viewing that it was a timeless classic.
It is a good yarn: brothers with a troubled path are reunited. One is a budding scholar (Hoffman), who is attempting to deal with the legacy of their father's suicide in the McCarthy era, as a historian of tyranny in American politics. He is struggling with his feelings, somewhat withdrawn but very alive even though he is intellectualizing his psychological struggle. His brother (Scheider) has taken a different path, in some kind of cloak and dagger "division", somewhere between the CIA and FBI. He is a courier for a rich Nazi in exchange for undisclosed services or information. When the situation changes abruptly, the equilibrium is destroyed. It is open season and the old Nazi (Olivier) is forced to come out of his Uruguayan jungle exile. He must go to NYC, but fears a trap; he must also avoid the surviving victims who people the city as war refugees. The Nazi is perhaps the most interesting character, played to perfection and truly a horrible commentary on human possibility. The dental scene is horrific.
Hoffman is thrown into the situation, a simple scholar who would never hurt a fly. Needless to say, much like the Straw Dogs mathematician, he finds the strength to confront his adversaries with the same violence they unleashed on him.
Towards the end, the film gets extremely quirky in a wonderfully believable way, from the hispanic crooks who help Hoffman for fun to the "solution" that he imposes on the old Nazi in order to humiliate him. There is no question this is a masterpiece of suspense, with very strong characters, but it didn't hang together in my viewing as much as I'd hoped, which disappointed me after remembering it so vividly for all these years.
Movie Review: Heil .... Laurence Olivier?!?
Summary: 4 Stars
Boy, I thought the great Olivier was oddly cast in Inchon (as General Douglas MacArthur). But this casting trumps even that. Lord Olivier as .... a Nazi dentist? Strange, but true. Even stranger is that Marathon Man works. A story about a graduate student (played by the then 39 year old Dustin Hoffman in his last "Benjamin Braddock" type role) stalked and tortured by his brother's killer (Olivier) could become the stuff of great parody if attempted by lesser talents. (Indeed, the line "Is is safe?" has become a very recognizable comedy punchline) However, the cast of Hoffman, Olivier, Roy Scheider, Marthe Keller and William Devane as well as the direction of John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) and the screenplay of William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) give this thriller the credibility necessary for the audience to take it seriously. Olivier's Christian Szell is a deadly serious character who has inflicted much torture and pain on his victims in the past. So we must take him seriously when he threatens Hoffman with his dental instruments. Hoffman and his brother, played by Scheider, lost their father who was driven to suicide by persecution during the red scare of the 1950's. There is a lot of genuine pain beneath the thriller facade, turning what could have been an unintentionally hilarious film into a deadly serious film that captures the audience and keeps them on the edge of their seats.Movie Review: A '70s Classic - on DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
John Schlesinger's Marathon Man is a well-made, cryptic thriller from the '70s, rekindling the old murder / intrigue / government paranoia style of the '60s (see also Charade and The Manchurian Candidate). Dustin Hoffman plays an introverted graduate student from Columbia Univ. who is thrust into a plot involving an old Nazi escapee (Lawrence Olivier) and diamond smuggling. Kind of a cryptic synopsis, but part of the allure of this film is the methodical way in which the enigmatic plot threads fit together. Oh, and you may want to reschedule that dentist appointment...Regarding the DVD transfer - keep in mind that despite the fact that it has a new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, the original sound was recorded in mono, so much of the sound is coming through the center channel. The score by Michael Small well-utilizes the remaining channels, but don't expect to be blown away. At least the dialogue is more understandable than the VHS version.
Besides the fact that Marathon Man is a great film, there are 2 good reasons to buy this DVD. First, there are 2 documentaries plus some really neat rehearsal footage. Second, the picture quality is great, and the film preserves its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
Movie Review: Is It Safe?
Summary: 4 Stars
If 'Marathon Man' were being filmed today, it would feature a plot with Swiss cheese-like holes in it, mindless dialogue, and an explosion every 10 minutes. Thankfully, the 'Marathon Man' that came out in 1976 suffered from none of these weaknesses. Rather, it belongs in the same classification as 'Day of the Jackal' and 'Three Days of the Condor' when great thrillers of the 70's are mentioned.Hoffman plays a graduate student who is still looking for answers to his father's apparent suicide years earlier. His brother (played by Roy Schieder) appears to be a businessman who has put his father's suicide behind him. What in the world can these two men have to do with a deadly Nazi war criminal on the loose? Ahh, all is not as it appears....
It's amazing to see such a stellar cast: Hoffman, Schieder, Olivier! Wow! This incredible cast and great script elevate the film way beyond the level of a typical thriller. The DVD extras are very good also. If you enjoy a good thriller and are tired of ridiculous offerings such as 'Double Jeopardy,' 'What Lies Beneath' and the like, 'Marathon Man' is like a breath of fresh air.