MARATHON MAN – Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier

Marathon Man (1976)
Direction: John Schlesinger
Screenplay: William Goldman, from Goldman’s novel
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller, Fritz Weaver, Richard Bright, Marc Lawrence
 

 
The worst sin a good-guy-vs.-bad-guy movie can commit is to — unintentionally — have us root for the evildoer. That is exactly what screenwriter William Goldman (adapting his own novel, reportedly with some help from Robert Towne) and director John Schlesinger, he of Darling, Midnight Cowboy, and Sunday, Bloody Sunday, achieve in the thrill-less "thriller" Marathon Man. Adding insult to injury, the villain I came to root for was a horrific Nazi war criminal, while the hero that bored me to tears was a pacifist Jew.
Now, how could anyone manage to [...]

by Andre Soares | December 5, 2004   
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