Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Favorite seventies thriller of Quention Tarantino. "Marathon Man" is known as a "paranoia thriller" and paranoid you will get watching it. The story is about Dusting Hofmann, playing a student in New York, who gets pursued by an ex-nazi doctor with an evil agenda. This classic was made in a now legendary period of American independent cinema, in which directors were truly their own boss and had almost total control over their creativity. Classics like "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now" by Francis Ford Coppola were made in this period. So were other classics like Martin Scorseses "Raging Bull" and Alan J. Pakula's "All the Presidents Men". All these movies were created in an era of the seventies that was known for its independent financing of movies, mostly by one particular producer, which bypassed the usual hollywood monopolies. A documentary about this period has been made featuring interviews with Scorsese and Coppola, describing this golden age of American indepent cinema. This is one heavy mother of a movie. There is a "dentist" scene that makes me more horrified than the "ear" scene did in "Reservoir Dogs". The "dentist" scene is much worse and unfortunately much longer. I must skip that "dentist" scene in "Marathon Man" everytime, because I just get so noxious about the torture by the heinously cruel Laurence Olivier, who truly acts as the most shocking ex-nazi I have ever seen on the screen. What a magnificent performance though! All the actors are acting brilliantly by the way. It would become tedious to start praising all of them. Well one more example of excellence: I just have to praise Dustin Hofmann. "Marathon Man" brings the best out in him. Truly perfect acting! That very same year he also performed in another seventies classic "All the President's Men", which was about the Watergate scandal. The man was at the peak of his carreer in 1976 when this classic was released.I just could go on and on writing about this classic, because the more often I see it, the more I notice the subtle yet dynamic direction that brings out the beauty in this terrifying story. The beauty is found in the true to life portrayal of these desperate characters. And that beauty is sculpted with one of the best photography of the entire seventies. If you are gonna watch it for the first time, you will probably not notice that excellent photograhpy, because the story and acting are so dynamic and overwhelming by itself already. The photography isnt bombastic or in your face. The photography in "Marathon Man" is done very subtle. But EVERY shot is deliberatedly made that specific way. Just a still shot of an empty hallway for example, has got its own beauty as it fades to black into another scene of a river in the jungle. That hallway shot could have been a painting. Just perfect. Every shot, every edit, every movement of the camera is orchestrated so naturally and supsenseful with a beauty and power that few photographers will ever achieve. But again, I must repeat that it is done without being in your face. Only noticeable for the moviegeeks who will wanna see it more often than just once. I have seen it over 20 times by now and still I am mesmirized by it's power.Another highlight is the soundtrack! It is so vivid and scary, that just hearing it out of the blue will bring me right into the spell of this movie. The technical sound quality isnt great, to say the least. Bass sounds basically didnt excist back then. We were already pleased it was stereo sound and not mono. But despite the lesser technical sound quality the music by itself is so powerful and suggestive that it spooks me out everytime I hear it. It sounds shreek and melancholic simultaneously, but gentle harmonies still ring through it. It is beauty combined with pain. That would sum up the best way for me to summarize this movie: a beautiful trip into a world of evil.I dont want to reveal anything more, because the story has so many great twists and turns that it would be a spoiler for all of those who are gonna see this classic for the very first time. I saw it for the first time when I was a young child in the seventies. It was aired on television. I really shouldnt have been allowed to see it back then, because there are some pretty horrific scenes in it, but fortunately my parents didnt know how horrifiying it would get. And anybody who is very young knows that conflicing longing to keep watching those movies that you know will scare you to death. But even now I have to look away when the "dentist" scene arrives. Some things are just too cruel and depressing. But despite the violently, dark story, the movie in itself is of a horrifying beauty that makes me cherish it as one of the greatest classics of the seventies.

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.

"Marathon Man" is a film that divides folks into two groups--those who think it's a neat film about a vicious Nazi living in the modern world and those who think it's so graphic and so violent that they'd rather never watch it in the first place. I learned this when I tried watching it with my wife...as after a while she just left the room because she couldn't stand the dental scene near the end. I know many folks who felt the same way as my lovely wife...and many who liked the film. My advice is NOT to watch it if you have a phobia about dentists or don't want to see some blood! It's certainly NOT an easy film to watch.The story is about a vicious Dr. Mengele-like Nazi who leaves his secure hiding place in South America to come to America in search of stolen diamonds. Along the way, there's some weird plot involving the US government and Dustin Hoffman. It's all a bit confusing but never dull--especially when an old Jewish survivor spots Szell on the streets!The film is complex and fascinating. The end you'll either love or hate...but it never is dull.

In NYC, an old Nazi gets into an argument with an elderly Jew. They race through the streets and die in fiery car crashes. The Nazi is the brother of infamous war criminal Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier). The brother was a part of an international courier ring transporting stolen diamonds from Jews in WWII sending the proceeds back to Szell. Henry 'Doc' Levy (Roy Scheider) is a US secret agent for the Division. His brother Babe (Dustin Hoffman) is a history Ph.D. candidate. Their father committed suicide after the McCarthy communist hearing ruined his life. Babe falls for foreign student Elsa (Marthe Keller).I honestly don't know if this movie makes sense. I don't know why they're moving diamonds around. Couldn't they sell them anywhere? I'm not sure what Roy Scheider is doing. The reason that the movie works is its disjointed confused method of storytelling early on. It fits this murky world of secrets. It's a compelling jigsaw puzzle. The three characters are played by some of the greats of their time. This is a John Schlesinger film. It has a Hitchcockian feel. It's got great paranoia.