By Todd Gararini
We
are all faced with challenging situations in our lives, but one would hope that
we face nothing like the scenario that Thomas Babington “Babe” Levy (Dustin
Hoffman) does in John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man, the film version of
William Goldman’s novel of the same name and who was the film’s screenwriter.
The movie opened in New York on Wednesday, October 6, 1976. Babe is a Ph.D.
candidate selected to be in an exclusive class of five students at Columbia
University taught by a professor (Fritz Weaver in a terrific cameo) who knows that
Babe’s father committed suicide following his being investigated during the Joseph
McCarthy-era witch hunts. He urges Babe not to turn his research into a
personal crusade to clear his father’s name, something that Babe is wrestling
with.
Babe
is an avid runner and times himself daily while running through Central Park,
presumably to compete in the New York City Marathon. He is verbally ribbed by
the guys who live across the street from his apartment. His brother, Henry
“Doc” Levy (the excellent Roy Scheider), passes himself off to Babe as an oil
company executive, but in reality is a diamond courier for an infamous Nazi war
criminal named Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier, who was nominated as Best
Supporting Actor), who has been hiding in South America while living off of
diamonds he stole from Jews during the Nazi occupation in Europe. Szell shares
a safe deposit box with his brother who lives in New York, however the latter
dies in an accident involving an oil truck. This complicates matters for Szell as
he must come out of hiding to get his diamonds, running the risk of being
recognized by Auschwitz survivors.
Babe
meets and falls for a research student named Olga (Marthe Keller), who is
fluent in German and French and they begin a romance which takes Babe deeper
into the mystery of his brother’s affiliation with Szell. The overall film may
not make one hundred percent sense, and there are plot holes large enough to
drive an oil truck through, however it is terrifically entertaining and so far
ahead of contemporary thrillers that I suggest one overlook these flaws. For a
basis of comparison, its most obvious cinematic antecedent in terms of
atmosphere is Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974) with Warren
Beatty. William Devane also is terrific as Janeway, Doc’s friend who comes to
the rescue and needs to get pertinent information from Babe.
Marathon
Man was the first Dustin Hoffman film that
I saw when it aired on CBS in October 1980 and for a while Szell’s ominous
inquiry to Babe when he is captured by Szell’s henchmen (Richard Bright and
Marc Lawrence), the infamous “Is it safe?”, became part of the lexicon and a
cultural reference that even appeared in Joe Dante’s Gremlins (1984) when
one of the titular creatures jokingly brandishes a dental drill. The film requires
active viewing for first-timers as there are double-crosses in abundance and if
you blink you might miss them. Viewers may dig deeply with questions about the
plot, but my only concern is where did Szell obtain that nifty killer wrist knife
that he uses on Roy Scheider and Fred Stuthman (the survivor who recognizes him
at the end of the film)? That is a nice device that can come in handy (sorry)
during ponderous corporate meetings and heated disagreements with political
adversaries.
Marathon
Man has been released before on video
cassette, laserdisc, CED (remember those?!), DVD, Blu-ray, and is now available
in a two-disc set from Kino Lorber, which keeps releasing great movies in
equally great special editions.
Disc
One contains the film in 4K UHD, scanned in 4K from the original 35mm camera
negative. I personally cannot see a noticeable difference between this and the
standard Blu-ray on my 4K television, though it might be on a much larger
screen. There are no extras on this disc.
Disc
Two is a standard Blu-ray derived from the same 4K scan and down-converted to
standard HD, and the disc has extras ported over from the original DVD release,
with some exclusive extras this time around to add additional value. For the
first time in any format, there is an audio commentary by film historians Steve
Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson and it is feature-length. It is a joy to listen
to and I am grateful that they took time to discuss the great contribution of
composer Michael Small’s score for the film. A veteran of terrific film music
for Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974), Night Moves
(1975), and an unused score to The China Syndrome (1979), his score for Marathon
Man is characteristically icy, creepy and sinister. There is also a good
deal of info regarding the cast and crew, particularly screenwriter Goldman and
director Schlesinger. They also quite correctly point out that the original
movie poster add campaign, which strangely consisted of simply the words, “A
thriller,” would have benefitted greatly with “Is it safe?” instead.
The
Magic of Hollywood…Is the Magic of People runs 21:14 and is a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the
making of the film while it was in production, ported over from the 2001 DVD.
Much of the footage is of Robert Evans talking about catching lightning in a
bottle and getting his first casting choices to come along for the ride. Input
from Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, John Schlesinger and Marthe Keller
bookend footage of the final confrontation between Babe and Szell on a Los
Angeles backlot set!
Going
the Distance: Remembering Marathon Man
runs 29:07 and is a 2001 piece from the DVD of the time and contains interviews
with the cast and crew.
Rehearsal
Footage runs 21:06 and is
my favorite extra which includes Dustin Hoffman’s, Roy Scheider’s, and Marte
Keller’s explorations of their characters. This is very interesting as much of
it was shot before and during the release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws,
the blockbuster that Mr. Scheider starred in, before principal photography
commenced in October 1975 and finished around February 1976. Marathon Man
also has the unique distinction of being the second motion picture to employ
the use of the then-new Steadicam.
Rounding
out the extras are the theatrical trailer, ten TV Spots and two radio spots.
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