Grade: D+
Synopsis: A graduate student (Dustin Hoffman) finds himself caught in a plot involving a shadowy government agency, missing diamonds, and a Nazi dentist (Laurence Olivier).
Marathon Man marked a reunion for star Dustin Hoffman and director John Schlesinger, the two having previously worked on Midnight Cowboy (1969). Once again, Schlesinger does a great job capturing the gritty, unforgiving New York atmosphere, but unfortunately, this time much of it is lost amid a ludicrous and convoluted plot.
The biggest problem is the film’s insistence on taking itself seriously. When your story involves rouge government agents, a Nazi dentist, a marathon runner, and a beautiful, but mysterious, foreign woman, you’re so far removed from reality that it’s laughable. Only Marathon Man refuses to let us laugh. Instead, it earnestly throws more and more plot threads at us, insisting that each is not only believable, but also relevant to the story.
If the film has a saving grace, it’s the now-classic torture scene where Laurence Olivier drills into Hoffman’s teeth without anesthesia, repeatedly asking him “Is it safe?” This sequence and the performances of Hoffman, Olivier, and Roy Scheider are top notch, but ultimately not enough to keep the Marathon Man afloat in its sea of loose plot lines.
