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==Music== |
==Music== |
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[[John Schlesinger]] asked composer [[Michael Small]] to make music that matched the theme of "pain, and the endurance of pain |
[[John Schlesinger]] asked composer [[Michael Small]] to make music that matched the theme of "pain, and the endurance of pain."<ref>Bettencourt, Scott and Alexander Kaplan. "[http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/marathon_man_music.html Marathon Man]." ''[[Film Score Monthly]]''. Vol. 13, No. 5. Retrieved on March 1, 2014.</ref> |
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==Reception and cultural impact== |
==Reception and cultural impact== |
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| Marathon Man | |
|---|---|
Movie poster by Bill Gold
| |
| Directed by | John Schlesinger |
| Screenplay by | William Goldman |
| Produced by | Robert Evans Sidney Beckerman |
| Starring | Dustin Hoffman Laurence Olivier Roy Scheider William Devane Marthe Keller |
| Cinematography | Conrad Hall |
| Edited by | Jim Clark |
| Music by | Michael Small |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 125 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $28,204,261[2] |
Marathon Man is a 1976 suspense/thriller film directed by John Schlesinger. It was adapted by William Goldman from his novel of the same name and stars Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane and Marthe Keller. The music score was composed by Michael Small.
The film was a critical and box office success, with Olivier earning an Academy Award for his role as the film's antagonist.
Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is a history Ph.D. candidate and avid runner. Levy is researching the same field as his father, who committed suicide after the Communist witch hunts of the Joseph McCarthy era ruined his reputation. Babe's brother Henry (Roy Scheider), known as "Doc", presents himself as an oil company executive but is really a government agent.
A 72-year-old German immigrant, Klaus Szell (Ben Dova[N 1]), dies in a road rage incident. Szell is the brother of fugitive Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier), a dentist who tortured Jews in a concentration camp. Doc suspects that Dr. Szell will come to New York to retrieve a valuable cache of diamonds stolen during the war from wealthy Jews seeking to flee Germany.
After escaping an attempt on his own life in Paris, Doc comes to New York under the guise of a visit to Babe. Meanwhile, Babe and his new girlfriend, Elsa Opel (Marthe Keller), who claims to be from Switzerland, are mugged by two men dressed in suits. When Doc takes Babe and Elsa to a French restaurant, he tricks Elsa into revealing that she has been lying to Babe about her background. Though Doc suspects she may be connected to Szell, he warns Babe against her by claiming that she doesn't care for him and is only seeking an American husband so that she can become a U.S. citizen. After Szell arrives in America, Doc confronts him, accusing him of involving his brother. Szell, after questioning Doc as to his own safety, then stabs Doc with a blade concealed in his sleeve. Doc makes it back to Babe's apartment before dying in his arms.
The police interrogate Babe until government agents led by Peter Janeway (William Devane) arrive. Janeway asks him what Doc told him before he died, and reveals that his brother was a government agent, working for a secret branch known as "The Division." Babe insists that his brother did not tell him anything. However, Janeway is convinced Doc would not have struggled all the way to Babe's apartment without giving him vital information.
Babe is later abducted from his apartment by the two men who mugged him in the park. Szell subsequently tortures Babe, using a dental probe on a cavity in Babe's tooth and repeatedly asking "Is it safe?" Babe denies any knowledge, but Szell tortures Babe relentlessly regarless of his answers. Babe is then rescued by Janeway, who explains that Szell is in America to recover and sell off a large cache of diamonds which he had taken from Jews killed at Auschwitz and entrusted to his brother while fleeing Nazi Germany. Janeway presses Babe about Doc's dying words, but Babe still insists he knows nothing. Frustrated, Janeway reveals himself as a double agent and returns Babe to Szell. Making a final attempt to extract information from Babe, Szell drills into one of his healthy teeth. Babe eventually escapes, aided by his skills as a marathon runner.
Babe phones Elsa, who agrees to meet him with a car. Arriving at a country home, Babe guesses that Elsa has set him up, forcing her to confess that the home was owned by Szell's deceased brother. Janeway and Szell's men arrive, but Babe takes Elsa hostage. As one of Szell's men reaches for his gun he is shot by Babe, with Janeway joining in and shooting both of Szell's men. Janeway says that Szell's men couldn't be trusted and says he will give Szell to Babe in exchange for Szell's murder of Doc. Elsa implores Babe to leave and as he does, Janeway shoots Elsa. Babe then shoots and kills Janeway.
Attempting to determine the value of his diamonds, Szell visits an appraiser in the Diamond Districtinmidtown Manhattan, a heavily Jewish neighborhood. A shop assistant who is also a Holocaust survivor believes he recognizes Szell as a war criminal. After Szell hurriedly leaves the shop, an elderly Jewish woman also recognizes him. Trying to cross the street to get closer to Szell, the woman is hit by a taxi, causing a crowd to assemble to aid her. Amid the confusion, the shop assistant appears again, directly confronting Szell, who then slits the man's throat.
Szell retrieves his diamonds but, as he attempts to leave, Babe forces him at gunpoint into a water treatment plant in Central Park. Babe tells Szell he can keep as many diamonds as he can swallow. Szell initially refuses, and Babe throws handfuls of diamonds at Szell, which fall through the grating platform they're standing on and into the water below. Szell relents and swallows one diamond, but then refuses to cooperate further. When Szell brings up Babe's father and brother and accuses Babe of being weak and predictable and spits at him, Babe hits back but in the process loses his grip on the gun. Szell then reveals his dagger and lunges at him, but Babe manages to avoid it and throw the open briefcase with the remaining diamonds down a stairwell towards the water. Szell dives towards the diamonds, but stumbles and rolls down the steps, fatally falling on his own knife blade. Babe heads out into Central Park, stopping to throw his gun into the reservoir.
The movie was filmed from September 1975 to January 1976.
Goldman was paid a reported $500,000 for the film rights to his novel and to do a screenplay.[4]
Goldman says John Schlesinger only agreed to do the film because he had just finished The Day of the Locust and was "terrified he was dead in Hollywood."[5]
Laurence Olivier was cast early on. However he had health issues and at one stage it was uncertain whether he would be able to do the film. Richard Widmark auditioned for the part, but Olivier eventually recovered and was able to make it.[5]
Marathon Man was the second feature film production in which inventor/operator Garrett Brown used his then-new Steadicam, after Bound for Glory.[6] However, it was the first feature using the Steadicam that saw theatrical release, predating the premieres of both Bound for Glory and Rocky by two months. This new camera stabilization system was used extensively in Marathon Man's running and chase scenes on the streets of New York City.
Marathon Man is famous in acting circles for an often quoted and misquoted exchange between Hoffman and Olivier concerning a perceived difference in their approaches to acting. Hoffman later set the record straight in a retrospective interview, explaining: "When we got back to Los Angeles [Olivier] said, 'How did your week go, dear boy?' And I told him we did this scene where the character I was playing was supposed to be up for three days. He says, 'So what did you do?' I say, 'Well I stayed up for three days and three nights.' And [Olivier's] famous line was, 'Why don't you just try acting?' ... It became kind of legend. It's been quoted so many times, at least in the acting circles. And the truth is I was the first one to quote that line ... They leave out the reality and just put in what feels more provocative or a better story. And what accompanied him saying 'Why don't you just try acting?' ... He laughed, because he said, you know, "I'm one to talk." And then he was actually the first one that told me about risking his life every night jumping whatever it was twenty feet in the last act of Hamlet. And the truth of it is I didn't just stay up three days and three nights for the scene; it was a good excuse, because these were the days of wine and roses in Studio 54".[7]
The film explores themes of McCarthyism, Nazism, and perseverance.[8][9][10] Some critics believed that the violence exhibited was necessary to the film and to the character of Babe. Other critics found the violence to be offensive.[11] Critic Pauline Kael considered the film a "Jewish revenge fantasy."[citation needed]
Babe originally has childish traits. As the film progresses, these childish traits are replaced with more "adult" ones. Michelle Citron of Jump Cut compared Babe to Carrie White in the 1976 film Carrie.[12]
John Schlesinger asked composer Michael Small to make music that matched the theme of "pain, and the endurance of pain."[13]
The film was a financial and critical success. Olivier's performance was particularly praised: he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and he won a Golden Globe in the same category.
Roger Ebert gave Marathon Man 3 out of a possible 4 stars. He wrote, "If holes in plots bother you, "Marathon Man" will be maddening. But as well-crafted escapist entertainment, as a diabolical thriller, the movie works with relentless skill."[14] Rotten Tomatoes ranks the film at 80%, with 35 reviews.[15]
Dr. Szell was ranked as villain #34 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list. The film itself was ranked #50 on the "100 Years...100 Thrills" list. He was also considered by Time Magazine as one of the 25 greatest movie villains to ever grace the screen. Both the novel and film contain a graphic depiction in which Szell tortures Babe by first probing a cavity in one of Babe's teeth with a curette, and later drilling into another tooth, without anesthetic, while repeatedly asking the question, "Is it safe?" The quote "Is it safe?" was ranked #70 on the "100 Years...100 Movie Quotes" list. The dental torture scene was named #66 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The torture scene has been described as one of the most frightening sequences in film.[10] Critics have remarked on the high level of talent and classiness.[16]
Director Schlesinger said that Marathon Man was successful not only because it had elements of escapism, but also because the audience easily identified with Babe Levy. Schlesinger said that he "is definitely someone that you can root for. The film is about his survival in a grim and hostile world. In our present age of anxiety we can all identify with characters who are not trying to get ahead but simply to survive."[17]
Although the first preview of the movie was successful, the second one in San Francisco did not go well. The audience complained about all the violent scenes, so director John Schlesinger and editor Jim Clark chose to delete the following scenes and shots: the scene near the beginning of the film in which Doc fights with two assassins who have killed his friend; the graphic and gory close ups of Szell disemboweling Doc with his wrist blade; and both of the torture scenes, which were heavily cut. Graphic insert shots from torture scene which were filmed by Clark were removed. Some photos, such as original lobby cards and stills, show Szell torturing Babe longer with dental instruments in the first torture scene and actual onscreen drilling of Babe's tooth in second torture scene.[18]
An 8½ minute sequence was shot of Doc fighting with some men who kill a spy colleague of his. William Goldman speculates that it was cut because it was violent and that it was a "grievous" cut to the detriment of the film.[19] With the sequence missing, Doc's character seems to be less flawed than he really is.[19]
The ending is speculated to have been rewritten because Hoffman was unhappy with it.[20] Goldman was not sure who wrote it, but told an interviewer he thought the new, more famous ending was "shit" because it left out two important plot clarifications. The final confrontation between Babe and Szell, in particular, is changed: in the film, Babe "spares" Szell in a pump room, tries forcing him to swallow his diamonds and Szell then falls on his own retractable blade, dying. In the novel, Babe resolutely leads Szell to Central Park and shoots him multiple times, subsequently lecturing him. He then throws the diamonds away and is quietly led away by a policeman.[20] (Robert Towne rewrote the ending.)[citation needed]
There is a story floating around that I told Olivier... When we got back to Los Angeles he said, 'How did your week go, dear boy?' And I told him we did this scene where the character I was playing was supposed to be up for three days. He says, 'So what did you do?' I say, 'Well I stayed up for three days and three nights.' And the famous line was, 'Why don't you just try acting?' And... it became kind of legend. It's been quoted so many times, at least in the acting circles. And the truth is I was the first one to quote that line... they leave out the reality and just put in what feels more provocative or a better story. And what accompanied him saying 'Why don't you just try acting?' He said, you know... He laughed, because he said, you know, 'I'm one to talk.' And then he was actually the first one that told me about risking his life every night jumping whatever it was twenty feet in the last act of Hamlet. And the truth of it is I didn't just stay up three days and three nights for the scene; it was a good excuse, because these were the days of wine and roses in Studio 54
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Films directed by John Schlesinger
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| Feature films |
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| Documentary |
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| Television |
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