The marathon man

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Movie
German title The marathon man
Original title Marathon Man
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1976
length 125 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Schlesinger
script William Goldman
production Sidney Beckerman
Robert Evans
music Michael Small
camera Conrad L. Hall
cut Jim Clark
occupation

Marathon Man is an American feature film by director John Schlesinger from the year 1976 . The film is based on a novel by William Goldman . The title-giving main role is played by Dustin Hoffman . Laurence Olivier , Roy Scheider , Marthe Keller and William Devane appear at his side . The question “Are you out of danger?” , In the original “Is it safe?”, Which was repeatedly asked in a torture scene, became a legend .

action

Babe Levy, a New York history student, is preparing for his PhD. In it he wants to deal with, among other things, the McCarthy era , in which his father committed suicide; he was no longer able to endure the persecution by the “ Committee for Un-American Activities ”. Babe also trains for a marathon run , his role model is the Ethiopian Olympic champion Abebe Bikila .

Meanwhile, a harmless vehicle breakdown sets a chain of events in motion. When a pensioner's Mercedes stops in a narrow street with engine problems, another impatient pensioner starts honking behind him. When the former asks for patience ("slower"), the other recognizes a German and insults him (only recognizable in the original sound) in Yiddish - which the German in turn answers with an angry "Jew!" A quarrel breaks out, which both fight with their vehicles in a bizarre chase and which ends fatally for both when they speed into a tanker truck. Babe Levy, who sees the burning vehicles from a distance during marathon training, has no idea how much this accident will affect him.

Because the dead German is the brother of a notorious concentration camp doctor . Christian Szell, a trained dentist, was nicknamed "The White Angel" among concentration camp inmates. He tortured Jewish prisoners and pressed their laboriously rescued diamonds from them. After his escape to Uruguay , his loot is stored in a New York bank locker , from which his brother regularly supplied him by courier as needed. His death has interrupted the supply chain, Szell has to react. He decides to pick up the diamonds himself. The couriers have become a security risk for him.

Doc, the marathon runner's brother, was one of the couriers. In Paris he narrowly escapes an explosives attack and the attack by the killer Chen in his hotel. The marathon runner gets to know and love Elsa Opel in the library. The two are ambushed in Central Park . The perpetrators, Karl and Erhard, are helpers from Szell. When Doc receives mail from Babe, he too sets off for New York. Babe told Doc about the strange attack in this letter. Doc wants to confront Szell in New York.

Once in New York, Doc first invites Babe and Elsa to dinner, questions them charmingly - and exposes the alleged Swiss woman as German. Elsa rushes off, Babe follows her - Doc stays behind in the bar and then goes to a meeting with Szell. There is a dispute, Szell injured Doc deadly with a switchblade , which he hid under his coat sleeve, and leaves him. Doc can still escape to his brother's apartment, but dies there without being able to say anything more.

Peter Janeway takes over the investigation and tells Babe that he knew Doc; both worked for a secret government agency. He wants to know whether the dying person has said anything else, but Babe cannot tell him anything. Janeway asks Babe if he could use himself as bait for his brother's murderers, because they would surely assume that Doc had conveyed another message. Babe agrees and when the policemen have left, he gets tired in the bathtub, then suddenly hears intruders and is kidnapped by Szell's helpers.

Babe is strapped to a dentist's chair and Szell enters the room. The dental instruments are spread out on a table in front of Babe. Without further explanation, Szell asks stereotypically “Is it safe?” (“Are you out of danger?” In German dubbing). Since Babe has no reasonable answer to this, Szell finally picks up his dental instruments and begins examining Babe's teeth. He discovers a hole in a tooth and Babe gives a cry of pain. When Babe is being led into a cell after being tortured, Janeway suddenly appears; he saves Babe and drives off with him in a car.

He reveals to Babe that Doc took over the courier services that Szell used to turn the diamonds into cash. The agency's motive: In return, Szell revealed the whereabouts of other Nazi giants who had gone into hiding after the war . Now they are looking for Szell. Babe excitedly informs him that Szell is already in New York. Janeway asks again for Doc's last words, receives no satisfactory answer and drives back to the warehouse with Babe from which he has just rescued him. He hands the astonished babe over to Szell, who is now starting to poke Babe's healthy tooth. After this torture , Szell lets Babe go ("If he knew something, he would have said it now."). Janeway tells Szell that he will no longer be under the agency's protection and that he will have to leave the country as soon as he has picked up his diamonds.

When Szell's helpers take Babe away, he manages to escape thanks to his training as a marathon runner. Since Janeway and Szell's helpers are watching his apartment, Babe lets neighbors break in and bring him clothes and the gun that his father shot himself with. He contacts Elsa, who takes him to an old, abandoned house. Babe suddenly realizes that she also works for Szell. When Janeway, Karl and Erhard arrive at the house, after a brief exchange of words, there is a firefight. Babe shoots Karl, Janeway shoots Karl and Erhard saying they couldn't be trusted. Babe threatens Janeway with the gun, so that Janeway tells him the whereabouts of Szell. When Babe leaves the house, Janeway kills Elsa, whereupon Babe shoots Janeway.

Meanwhile, Szell tries to have the value of the diamonds he wants to pick up at a jeweler and goes to the Diamond District in Midtown Manhattan , where many Jews live and work. He is recognized as a concentration camp dentist by two former concentration camp inmates, a woman and a man. While the woman who is following him excitedly is almost hit by a car while crossing the street, the man speaks to Szell (“Now I know who you are, you murderer”). Szell kills the man with his switchblade and escapes in a taxi. Shortly after picking up the diamonds from the safe deposit box, Babe intercepts Szell in front of the bank. A “showdown” takes place in a pumping station near Central Park . Szell tries to buy Babe with the diamonds, who in turn tries to force Szell at gunpoint to swallow the diamonds. At the next scuffle, Babe throws the diamonds into the water. Szell wants to save the stones, falls down a flight of stairs and fatally injures himself with his own switchblade .

Reviews

"Spy thriller, superficially exciting, but also very brutal."

- Lexicon of international film

“Elegantly photographed by the later Oscar winner Conrad L. Hall [...], the film does not allow the viewer a quiet minute with nightmarish scenes (such as the torture on the dentist's chair) and the sweaty finale. Conclusion: exciting to the point of pain. "

- Cinema

“John Schlesinger's elegantly photographed thriller was one of the great box office hits of the 1970s, grossing $ 16 million shortly after its launch. The marathon man is of course also a film with extremely uncomfortable and nightmarish scenes. […] Like in no other ripper, the flair of the pulsating metropolis of New York underlines the threatening atmosphere of this film. [...] Laurence Olivier was nominated for an Oscar for his truly diabolical performance as Best Male Supporting Actor. "

- Jens Golombek

"Olivier - as evil personified - and Hoffman are excellent."

- Leonard Maltin : TV Movies and Video Guide

Awards

  • Laurence Olivier was nominated for an Oscar (best supporting role) in 1977 for the role of Szell and won a Golden Globe for her .
  • Also nominated for a Golden Globe were: Director John Schlesinger, Dustin Hoffman ( Best Actor - Drama ), Marthe Keller ( Best Supporting Actress ) and screenwriter William Goldman.

literature

  • William Goldman: The Marathon Man . Bastei-Lübbe, Berg. Gladbach 1986, ISBN 3-404-13056-1 .
  • Dirk Manthey, Jörg Altendorf, Willy Loderhose (eds.): The large film lexicon. All top films from A-Z . Second edition, revised and expanded new edition. Publishing group Milchstraße, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-89324-126-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The marathon man. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ The marathon man on cinema.de
  3. ↑ Jens Golombek (jg) in: Dirk Manthey, Jörg Altendorf, Willy Loderhose (Hrsg.): Das große Film-Lexikon. All top films from A-Z . Second edition, revised and expanded new edition. tape IV . Verlagsgruppe Milchstraße, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-89324-126-4 , p. 1875 .