:
Dustin Hoffman,
Dustin Hoffman,
Laurence Olivier,
more...
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John Schlesinger,
John Schlesinger
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Paramount
: 125 min.
: English, French
: English
see additional details...
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Doc Levy (Roy Scheider) is an American secret agent who has been running interference between the U.S. government and escaped Nazi war criminal Szell (Laurence Olivier). Believing that Doc has stolen a valuable cache of gems, Szell emerges from his South American hiding place and heads for New York. He has Doc killed, then kidnaps Doc's in-the-dark brother, Babe (Dustin Hoffman). Repeating the phrase "Is it safe?" over and over, Szell, a onetime concentration camp dentist, tries to extract information from Babe by performing sadistic "oral surgery" upon him. Babe, who still doesn't know about the gems, escapes, breaking his own self-imposed rule of nonviolence to defend himself against his pursuers and gearing up for sadistic revenge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailer
- Cast & Crew Interviews
- Rehearsal Footage
- Original "Making of Marathon Man Featurette"
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| Laurence Oliver takes you to the dentist
by Lastcrackerjack
April 14, 2006 - 6:42 PM PDT
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier and Roy Schneider, along with Marthe Heller and William Devane round out a memorable cast in this adaptation of the plot-driven, page-turning novel by William Goldman. Goldman, at the apex of his screenwriting career, adapted his own novel as little more than an exercise in white knuckle suspense.
"Marathon Man" does feature two standout sequences in terror. The first is Hoffman's realization as he soaks in his tub that someone is inside his apartment. The movie's highlight is the iconic interrogation scene ("Is it safe?" Olivier asks repeatedly, to which Hoffman has no clue what to say.) Olivier injecting a needle into Hoffman's gums and later, drilling into a dead nerve, generated as much dread of the dentist's office as "Jaws" did to swimming.
Unfortunately, John Schlesinger - the English filmmaker and consummate actor's director - worked with Hoffman creating a much more interesting world in "Midnight Cowboy". "Marathon Man" jets along at a breakneck pace but adds up to very little.
The only reason to really see it is Laurence Olivier, whose Christian Szell is one of the great screen villains of all time. In seriously declining health, Olivier was not given long to live and was considered a liability to bond guarantors. His Oscar nominated performance re-energized his career and Olivier continued to work throughout the decade on the condition he not be obligated to do any promoting. He ended up living until 1989.
Robert Towne was brought in to polish the ending. Unfortunately, this was Towne's sole contribution. The rest of the script follows Goldman's espionage novel closely.
Robert Evans served as a producer, which ended up being the last hurrah of his legendary tenure as head of production at Paramount in the '70s. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.34)
124 Votes
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© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
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