Review of Marathon Man (1976) by Christopher M — 04 Jan 2017

This seems to have acquired the reputation of being a very complicated thriller. I don't really see what's complicated about it. Olivier's Nazi war criminal in hiding is forced to come to New York and retrieve his stashed wealth when the only other person with access to it, his brother, is killed in a car crash.

He's afraid that any of a number of couriers who have been transporting these diamonds to him in South America might take the opportunity to rob him, so he starts having them bumped off. One of them is Hoffman's older brother Roy Scheider.

When Scheider makes his way all the way back to Hoffman's apartment before dying, Olivier is convinced Scheider must have told him something important and grabs him to find out what he was told. That's the entire plot in a nutshell.

I think it seems more complicated than it is because Schlesinger populates the movie with characters with complex psychologies that muddy the plot. Does it make sense for Olivier to fear being robbed? Not really.

They could have robbed his brother at any time if they wanted to. He as much as admits the irrationality of this fear to Hoffman. William Devane's character wavers a lot because he's torn between having a job to do and hating Olivier.

What makes this thriller really transcend it's genre is these character complexities.