"Marathon Man" (1976)

The psychological thriller directed by John Schlesinger, starring Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider, and Laurence Olivier, about a graduate student (Hoffman) who becomes embroiled in a plot involving a Nazi war criminal (Olivier) attempting to acquire a box of stolen diamonds. I watched it recently and found it very gripping—atmospherically, it almost feels like a horror film. Very oppressive and suspenseful. The dental torture scene is unforgettable. Olivier earned an Oscar nomination for his chilling portrayal of the neo-Nazi antagonist. What were your thoughts on this film?

Two scenes from the movie have stuck with me since it was released: 1) the dental scene -- I think everybody remembers that scene, 2) the scene where Oliver's character is recognized on the street by the elderly Jewish woman and she can't get anyone to understand her fear of seeing a Nazi commander walking down the street in NYC. A great movie.

William Devane is always sleazy.

Agreed R1—both fantastic scenes with remarkably different types of visceral impact. John Schlesinger had an inconsistent filmography IMO, but this and "The Day of the Locust" are standouts for me. Both excellent films. I also enjoyed his outrageous horror effort "The Believers", which, despite being a narrative mess, is still really stylish and disturbing. The fact that this is the same man who ended his career directing Madonna and Rupert Everett in "The Next Best Thing" is sort of hard to believe.

They de-gayed the relationship between Scheider and Devane's characters when the novel was made into a screenplay.

William Goldman's novel (he also wrote the screenplay) tells the story in separate chapters for the first part of the book. The nerdy student and the international spy have no connection until the latter is stabbed and staggers back to the former to die. The two plots then merge in a way that worked much better on page than on the screen. And yes, the gay sub-plot kind of got lost (it was the 70's) but I think Devane was a great casting choice.

Good movie that holds up well. I did like the scene in the diamond district -- feels like walking out of a time machine into real-life New York in the 70s. If the people were all extras, then the movie-makers did an extraordinary job of making it all seem authentic.

Okay SPOILERS ******

It has been several years since I read the book and saw the movie - can someone refresh my memory - Roy Schieder and William Devane were lovers and spy’s. Roy played Dustin’s . After Roy is killed by Sir Larry - it is revealed that William Devane was a Double Agent. Does that mean that Roy was ALSO a double agent?

I don’t know why there is an apostrophe on spies^

Not a fan but the 1970s were an interesting time for film making

Roy Scheider was sex on a stick in this movie, my god!

Hoffmans grubby studio apartment is located in Hells Kitchen, his neighbors taunt and catcall him when he jogs around the block

In college, 5 of us went to a midnight screening in a theatre in Times Square. We drove in from Jersey. You can imagine how that went.

It was my mother’s worst nightmare over again. She always swore that there was no pain killing at her dentist in the 1930s-1940s and it was agony as a child. She would leave drenched in a cold sweat. Doing my own research I find there WAS Novocain and such.

My mom said the same thing about going to the dentist growing up in the 40s / 50s R15. He wold tell her to count 1-2-3, 1-2-3 as he endlessly drilled her teeth. My mom’s side has pretty bad teeth, she had lots of fillings by 30 and her parents both had full sets of dentures by 45. Perhaps novocaine wasn’t a thing with Brooklyn dentists who had working class patients. Good thing I grew up with fluoridated water.

Since there may be some youngsters on this thread I’ll haul out this old chestnut:

“Dustin Hoffman has long been known as one of method acting’s most earnest exponents. A showbiz story involves his collaboration with Laurence Olivier on the 1976 film Marathon Man. Upon being asked by his co-star how a previous scene had gone, one in which Hoffmann’s character had supposedly stayed up for three days, Hoffmann admitted that he too had not slept for 72 hours to achieve emotional verisimilitude. “My dear boy,” replied Olivier smoothly, “why don’t you just try acting?”

Excellent choice Op . Roy Scheider was the very definition of ugly/sexy . I loved Dustin Hoffman until Tootsie.God I hated that piece of crap.

Scheider was hot in this, but Dustin Hoffman's bare ass is the real eye candy in this for me. His body was at peak hotness in this film.

[quote]Hoffmans grubby studio apartment is located in Hells Kitchen, his neighbors taunt and catcall him when he jogs around the block

That's what happens these days to the HK gays.

I had read the book, so I knew that Scheider and Devane were in a relationship. Even though the movie toned it down, I think the dynamic still came through on the screen. This movie was one of the first I saw when I realized that i was a fan of shipping M/M, so I was quite entertained by their scenes, subtle as they were and I became a big fan of Devane after this movie.

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