Review - Marathon Man

As if I needed more reasons to never go to the dentist. Of course, I'd heard about the infamous dental chair scene in Marathon Man beforehand, so I knew what I was in for. But yuck, anyways. Yuck yuck yuck.

I loved this movie primarily for the scenes involving Laurence Olivier as the ex-Nazi come out of hiding. Every second he's on screen is fantastic, he creates this character that just oozes venom but from under a very composed, clean-cut surface. He made me want my mommy. The scene in the diamond district alone is worth watching the film for; the way you can sense his rising panic as the streets swell with Jews and some of them begin to recognize him... leading to anguished cries of "Der Weisse Engel!" and a surprise retractable blade appearance that is chilling.

Dustin Hoffman's good, but not great, as the Hitchcockian everyman. His nebbishness worked to better effect in The Graduate; I kept thinking that his character in this movie should've been better looking. Not sure why, not just for superficial reasons, it just seemed like the character would've been more convincing as less of a schlub. I couldn't buy him, even though he was in great shape, as a marathon runner, for one, which kinda throws a wrench in the basic premise of the character (hence the title). And far be it from me to ask for a movie to be dumber, but he was Acting too much here. The scene at the end, the shot of triumph as he walks into the figurative sunset, he had like fifty thousand quirky little facial tics he ran through and I had no idea what he was supposed to be feeling. Worked for The Graduate, not as much here.

The foreign girlfriend was such an obvious set-up I was happy the film didn't make it out like it was supposed to be surprising.

The first few scenes, besides the scenes with Olivier, were my favorite; I'd made a point of trying to not know a lot about the movie before watching it, so I liked the way you really have no clue where the movie's going at first. The scenes seem completely unconnected for a good while, until Roy Scheider's character shows up in Hoffman's apartment. All the stuff with Scheider was great fun, loved the Menacing Generic Asian (a film could still get away with in the 70's), loved the cheesy karate chops Scheider fought with, and the exploding baby doll was great.

And that car crash scene, with the bickering old men speeding down the street and into an oil truck? AWESOME.