Marathon Man (1976), Directed by John Schlesinger
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Unsafe Marathon Man (1976), Directed by John Schlesinger By Fearless Young Orphan Babe (Dustin Hoffman) is a New York graduate student in a prestigious history program writing a doctoral thesis that he hopes will exonerate his blacklisted father, now dead. He believes that his older brother Doc (Roy Scheider) is in the oil business. Babe is rigorously training for the New York Marathon as well, which will give him an advantage when it counts, later in the film. Meanwhile, it seems that Doc has not been perfectly honest with Babe: he is not an oil businessman but an agent for a shady organization that operates in the cracks between the FBI and the CIA (the vaguely named “Division”). Doc’s latest assignment has been the handling of a diamond exchange between Nazi war criminal Szell (Laurence Olivier) currently hiding in Uruguay, and Szell’s elderly brother. These are diamonds that were stolen from Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust, when they had been falsely promised freedom in exchange. We’ll learn later that Szell has been selling out his former Nazi collaborators, which is apparently why the U.S. has been willing to deal with the sonofabitch at all. We can suppose that business would have proceeded as usual if not for the fact that Szell’s brother is killed in a car accident at the beginning of the film. Because of this, Szell himself must make the trip to New York to get the diamonds. Szell, a man who has made a life out of betraying other humans, does not trust anyone, including Doc (or Scylla, which is Doc’s spy-name). He believes Doc will likely rob him of the diamonds. And he believes that Doc may have shared his plans with an innocent younger brother who just happens to be in the city, which is how poor Babe manages to get his butt involved in this mess. Though it is full of famous faces and has an intriguing story, Marathon Man is a famous espionage film for one reason: a scene of dental torture so unnerving that most people have to look away. You’ve probably seen the scene or a parody of it even if you’ve never seen the movie: Dustin Hoffman strapped screaming in a chair while Laurence Olivier grinds away at his teeth with that awful, shrieking drill. Szell was a dentist by trade, you see, even as he became a notorious Nazi villain at Auschwitz. It’s a scene so famous that it makes lists – you know, like the AFI’s “Scariest Movie Moments” or whatever. Most of us are a little phobic about dentists anyway, you know? The machinations of the evil Szell are what are most interesting in the movie, and Laurence Olivier’s performance was recognized by an Academy Award nomination. Szell is Ack! No! a great villain because he’s handsome, friendly, in many ways just a vulnerable old man. But he carries this aura of wickedness with him, plus a retractable blade in his sleeve which he uses more than once. Of course, the dentistry thing is harrowing, as is his detached, brutal torture of Babe, who is basically an innocent bystander in all this. Famous scene and performance aside, the movie may not be quite as great as you remember it being, for a few different reasons. I was a little let down, my memories so much better than the film itself when I watched it again this week. I had seen it at least twice before but not for over a decade. I was surprised at its considerable (and unnecessary) length that clocks in at over two hours, at the sometimes over-the-top hysterics of Dustin Hoffman as Babe (he gets the fear dead-on right, but his anger is too bitchy), but most of all at the laziness of the plot in general. Because I hate to say it, but the espionage plot is rather ridiculous. Perhaps because I have been making a study of espionage films over the last few years, I am growing more and more aware of Macguffin plots and this seems like one to me. It is such a cool idea that a Nazi war criminal is coming to New York for a briefcase full of diamonds and to menace an innocent college student that the film seems to sidestep making any damn sense of why this should happen. Szell might understandably come on his own since he wouldn’t want someone else handling the diamonds, but his major fear is that he will be robbed. This is why he abducts and tortures Babe – for information on a robbery that was The New York Marathon is a lot rougher than it never planned and of which Babe used to be. knows nothing. Szell can afford a couple of thugs as bodyguards – can’t he just hire a few more to keep him safe? Why would he go to the bank alone to get the diamonds, if he’s so worried? From my viewpoint, even if I weren’t a wanted war criminal, I’d hire myself some protection if I were going to be toting around millions of dollars worth of diamonds. Hell, it’s like Szell wants to be attacked; he keeps walking into Jewish neighborhoods where he’ll be recognized by his victims (it happens twice) and he’s strolling around New York alone with the most valuable briefcase in the world, if you don’t count “the football.” Heck, even the accident that causes Szell’s brother’s death is ridiculous, a protracted episode of road rage culminating in an explosion with an oil truck so unlikely that it could only happen in a movie. Finally, let’s give a nod to this “mysterious” organization for which Doc works – the ambiguously named Division. From the description given by Doc’s handler Janeway (William Devane with terrible hair), they’re basically just mercenaries. I’m not opposed to ridiculous espionage plots in themselves, unless they are utilized in basically a very serious film. While watching this film I realized that much of the layered story and characters I was recalling were from the book. Ever read William Goldman? He writes one hell of an exciting story. I recommend also Magic and Heat, both of which also were major motion pictures. A lot of the nuance I remembered from Marathon Man was from the written work, including Babe’s intense inspiration taken from an underdog marathon runner. A lot of the novel’s realism is scrapped as well. For example, in the book, Babe, having escaped his torturer and discovered the plot of the ex-Nazi, actually kills the man. In the movie, Szell falls on his own knife. Wow. Well, we wouldn’t want to think Babe was going to spend his life in prison, would we? Never mind that house in the country with the four dead bodies inside. Marathon Man is a good film, it really is. But it’s not as awesome as I recalled it being. For me, it suffers from what I can best describe as “film memory deterioration,” a phenomena that has also occurred with me for other films like Witness and Escape from New York. Some movies I remember as being excellent, but which I haven’t seen in a long time, are really only “excellent” in my mind for a few specific scenes, or a great idea, or a knockout performance and otherwise, I’m left scratching my head as to what made me think they were so incredible. Over time our minds like to edit things for us so that we keep what was important – so maybe that’s what matters here. Still, I’d recommend reading the book. .