Watching Dustin Hoffman as the movie's main protagonist who runs and runs because he is getting fit for a marathon seems to belong to a different movie than this wannabe, seemingly overcomplicated thriller. We have Hoffman running, getting sweaty and huffing and puffing, and getting ready to write his dissertation on America's unclean near-tyrannical historic events of the 20th century. He's also interested in an allegedly Swiss woman (Marthe Keller) and that could easily pass as some romantic drama. Then we also get a steely-eyed, bald Nazi war criminal who was hiding out in Uruguay (yeah, a plus for my country of birth being mentioned) and is now in New York City trying to get hold of precious diamonds. These subplots do not coalesce and the film's schizophrenic tone lost me.
Hoffman plays "Babe" as a smart student right out of "The Graduate" with no new wrinkles other than his ability to hold a gun and fire it. There is a crucial level of interest here with regards to past events surrounding Babe's late father, an alleged Communist during the McCarthy years who committed suicide, and Babe's dissertation is his attempt to make peace with it. There is also Babe's brother (Roy Scheider), a federal agent masquerading as an oil businessman, and their scenes together has some warmth and a deep emotional connection. It does not last.
Violence permeates "Marathon Man" and none of it is pretty yet, by the end of the film, it all felt inconsequential. The tone wavers uneasily and then becomes a standard thriller where our hero, Babe, is on the run from the Nazi criminal Szell (a magnificent and almost unrecognizable Laurence Olivier) and from a couple of minions dressed in business suits. The minions try to pry open a bathroom door while Babe is taking a bath. Another earlier scene shows them robbing him and his alleged girlfriend in Central Park. There is a grueling and effective scene where Szell drills into Babe's mouth to extract information from him, to no avail. Then we get more running, more chases, and Babe jumping off a bridge onto a ramp. It is all somewhat thrilling yet also uninvolving. I never felt much for Babe and could care less about the evil Szell and those diamonds that belonged to the Jews in the concentration camp. Director John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy") does a serviceable job of keeping the pace jumpy yet nothing here feels personal and the stakes are not always clear.
There are two scenes, other than the brothers' reunion, that work wonders. Szell walks around the city and is spotted by two concentration camp survivors, leading to one being killed by Szell and another almost run over. I also enjoyed the wit behind Babe convincing some neighbors to go to his apartment and retrieve his clothes since he's being watched by those minions. I should also note that the charismatic Roy Scheider as Babe's brother stays with you. "Marathon Man" itself is somewhat watchable though it is quite often a humorless slog of a movie.
