One man's dangerous attempts to clear his father's name
A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.
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Character
Earnest, grave, classical in form and resolved.
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- classical in formformally daring
- resolvedopen-ended
- warmbleak
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“Is Dustin Hoffman the best thing in Marathon Man?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Jul 20227/10
As a man who quite literally loathes the very idea of a dentist, let alone actually going to visit one - this film adds an extra dimension of ghastliness to the already fairly hideous underlying premiss. That centres around "Babe" (Dustin Hoffman). He is an ordinary history student who is horrified when his older brother is brutally murdered. Why? Well, he sets out to investigate and before long is embroiled in a nazi-hunting plot to track down "Szell" (Sir Laurence Olivier) who is, himself, trying to stay one step ahead of some government agents whilst he tries to track down an huge cache of diamonds. It turns out that this evil creature thought the now deceased brother knew the location of the gems, and of course that puts "Babe" in quite considerable peril and so soon, he is next on the interrogation list. This torture gives the idea of getting a drilling an whole new meaning, as the sound of the dental whirring does more than enough to compensate for the lack of actual visuals. Though the ending is fitting, I found it all just a bit too convenient, but Hoffman is superb here, as are Sir Laurence and an international cast that add depth to this really quite disturbing plot. Even
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Cast
- Dustin HoffmanThomas 'Babe' Levy
- Laurence OlivierDr. Christian Szell
- Roy ScheiderHenry 'Doc' Levy
- William DevaneJaneway
- Marthe KellerElsa Opel
- Fritz WeaverProfessor Biesenthal
- Richard BrightKarl
- Marc LawrenceErhard
- James Wing WooChen
- Lou GilbertRosenbaum
Crew
- John SchlesingerDirector
- William GoldmanScreenplay
- William GoldmanNovel
- Conrad HallDirector of Photography
- Michael SmallOriginal Music Composer
- Jim ClarkEditor
- Sidney BeckermanProducer
- Robert EvansProducer
Where to watch
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
Emancipation 202287% alikeBoth grave, classical in form, earnest.
Midnight Express 197884% alikeBoth grave, earnest, classical in form.
Hotel Mumbai 201882% alikeBoth earnest, grave, classical in form.
Both earnest, grave, classical in form.
Deadline - U.S.A. 195280% alikeBoth classical in form, earnest, grave.
Pork Chop Hill 195980% alikeBoth classical in form, earnest, grave.
Puncture 201179% alikeBoth grave, earnest, classical in form.
Blood Brothers 197379% alikeBoth grave, classical in form, earnest.
A Plague Tale: Innocence 201979% alikeGame · Both earnest, grave, classical in form.
The Long Road Home 201779% alikeTelevision · Both grave, earnest, classical in form.
Often watched with
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