MARATHON MAN (1976)

For his second independent production, former studio macher Robert Evans repeated his CHINATOWN stunt by hiring an artsy-Euro director to give class & unique perspective to a genre pic.  Where L.A. noir got the Roman Polanski treatment; here, William Goldman’s hot-house international thriller (it’s yet another Dr. Mengele pastiche) got tony Brit John Schlesinger.  But he was coming off an expensive flop in DAY OF THE LOCUST/’75 and, needing a mainstream hit, was not so much himself as an amalgam-manqué of Alfred Hitchcock (for chills) and William Freidkin (for spills).  Commercially, they got away with it, but the film looks sillier than ever, especially after Roy Scheider leaves the scene halfway thru and plot implausibilities start piling up.  Dustin Hoffman, having gained fame at thirty as the world’s oldest new GRADUATE, pushing forty and looking every minute of it (in spite of the killer bod) now plays Columbia’s oldest grad student.  Turns out brother Scheider (with an even more killer bod) is involved with some sub-C.I.A. outfit who watch from the side as the Dr. Mengele character, Laurence Olivier, makes with the drills as a sadistic dentist to find out if it’s ‘safe’ to collect the jewels his late brother has in a NYC safe deposit box.  He'll even risk being spotted going to Manhattan’s largely-Jewish diamond district on 47th Street to get current quotes on karats.  (He couldn’t walk the five blocks to Tiffany’s?  Or maybe try using a phone?*)  Well, best not to think about Goldman’s idea of plot and enjoy some of the acting.  Even ‘70s kiss-of-death love interest Marta Keller okay for a change.  And someone was wicked smart, casting Kennedy-lookalike William Devane as an ambiguous C.I.A. op.  (Devane’s glory year, also starring in Hitchcock’s FAMILY PLOT.)  Close down the right side of your brain to get the most out of this one.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *The Diamond District sequence a sort of variation on all those closed Manhattan pawnshops in THE LOST WEEKEND/’45 when Ray Milland makes the mistake of trying to raise cash hocking his typewriter on a Shabbos Saturday.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: A couple of years on, a much frailer Lord Olivier switched sides to fight Nazis in THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL/’78.  Olivier blew hot & cold in the movies, but these two perfs, especially coming almost side-by-side are pretty amazing.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-boys-from-brazil-1978.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  See how it says ‘A Thriller’ on this admittedly lousy poster?  It means some young publicity exec had to phone producer Evans and explain that because ONE PERSON (from a sample of 12,378) thought the title suggested a sports pic, they’d have to change the title (from a best-selling novel) or add the copy line.