vandelour
Hoffman overacted and Olivier underacted. Between the two of 'em it balanced out sort of and let the storyline carry the audience along. There were some sappy parts with Hoffman but overall his performance was fine. The tone of the film wasn't oppressive so much as ratcheting up the tension with each scene. A good movie, maybe the best of the 'Nazi's are still around' genre.
jadavix
"Marathon Man" is one of the classic thrillers of the '70s, of which there were quite a few. The nation, still in shock from Watergate, had a whetted appetite for conspiracy movies - see also "The Parallax View" and, of course, "All The President's Men"."Marathon Man" is filled with classic scenes. Look out for the scene parodied in "Seinfeld" where the elderly Jewish woman recognizes the movie's Mengele-analogue, played by Lawrence Olivier in a great performance. The torture scene is still, after all this time, almost impossible to watch.It is true that the plot is fairly complicated, but I am one who thinks that the job of a thriller is to be thrilling. Any fan of the film noir flicks of the '40s knows that a labyrinthine plot can actually work in a film's favour: it allows you to feel how the main character is feeling, out of sea in a conspiracy he doesn't understand. Neither do you - that's the point.The movie makes more than enough sense anyway. You know who everyone is, what they're trying to do, and why they're trying to do it. So just strap in and enjoy this movie's copious pleasures.It is also notable for having both one of the greatest method actors (Hoffman) on screen with the greatest old-school actor (Olivier). And with a superlative filmmaker like John Schlesinger at the helm, and a screenplay by the legendary William Goldman, there was really no way for this film to miss. It didn't.
Dave Avillion
I realize thrillers are tough to do. I get it. But this was such a good set up and then hysterical let down, it left me frustrated, actually furious. There were a couple plot points, a couple of lines of dialogue, and more than a couple of Hoffman's histrionics that were so clunky it totally took me out of the story. Terrible. I would not recommend it, and I will not watch the whole thing ever again.
Hitchcoc
I'm the last person to complain about a movie not being what the book was. I buy that the two are different forms of media and hence can not be totally compared, but I do have one issue with this film. That is when the plot is changed in a way that the characterization takes a hit. Dustin Hoffmann plays a man named Babe who makes a discovery that puts him in danger. He is the "marathon man" in that he is a committed runner. He crosses paths with a surviving Nazi who is a character from hell. Their interaction includes the drilling out of Babe's teeth by this psychopath. Where it fall apart is in the final confrontation between these two men. I won't throw any spoilers in here. Suffice it to say that when a character grows through a period of suffering, the climactic scene should reflect this. Something goes awry. Check this out after reading the book.
AD
