As this '70s thriller opens two elderly drivers get into an argument on a New York street; one is Jewish the other is a German who clearly has Nazi views. This leads to what would now be called 'road rage' and a crash that kills both men. It turns out the German is the brother of a presumed dead war criminal Christian Szell. This event will ultimately have a serious effect on Thomas Babington "Babe" Levy; a PhD student with no obvious connection to either man.

Babe is a post graduate student in New York where he meets, and gets involved with, Elsa Opel, who claims to be from Switzerland. One day as they walk through central park they are attacked by two unlikely muggers... middle aged men in suits. Meanwhile Babe's brother 'Doc', who Babe thinks is an oil executive, is in Paris working for a shadowy government agency that has been working with Szell. After his brother's death Szell is worried that his ill-gotten fortune in diamonds might not be safe... anybody he suspects could threaten that fortune is certainly in danger and that includes Babe.

This is a superior thriller which never treats its audience as idiots. For much of the film connections are far from obvious; things happen and we aren't told why. Then as the connections are exposed everything starts to make sense. Dustin Hoffman is impressive as Babe, the innocent caught up in events he doesn't understand; Roy Scheider is equally solid as "Doc" and Laurence Olivier is genuinely menacing as Dr Christian Szell... the dentist-torture scene is one that viewers will never forget. While the film isn't excessively violent there are a few shocking moments. These moments are justified to establish the dangers and nature of certain characters. The action is shot in a fairly matter-of-fact way which makes it feel more real than exciting. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of gritty '70s thrillers.

"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.

Two generations of acting styles come together in Marathon Man. Dustin Hoffman plays a most reluctant hero a young pacifist graduate student at Columbia University who is a distance runner. He gets way over his head with an arch Nazi war criminal Laurence Olivier who did not drag out his patented Mittel-Europa accent. Instead he spoke a most precise English for the role, just like a foreigner having to learn the tongue.

His brother Roy Scheider is supposed to be in the oil business. Their father was a victim of the McCarthy Era blacklist who killed himself. Scheider actually works for a branch of the CIA, no doubt as Hoffman says the father would disapprove. I'm wondering how he got clearance.

A whole bunch of people from that section are dying and when Scheider dies Hoffman goes into action not knowing who to trust. But he's lucky, very lucky.

Olivier who has been living in South America in seclusion is forced to come to America to get his fortune in diamonds in a safety deposit vault. He's forced to do this after his brother is killed in a traffic accident right at the beginning of the film. Olivier's Dr. Szell is as terrifying a villain as his Richard III. It's what got him an Oscar nomination his only one in the Supporting Actor category.

Marathon Man has a lot of holes in the story, but the acting between Hoffman and Olivier is not to be missed.