TNL Movie Club: Marathon Man

[No One]

So, watched this last night. It really is such a bleak, fey viewing experience despite being a fairly standard (albeit very well-written) conspiracy thriller. Laurence Olivier is just creepy as shit as Szell, and that torture scene still makes me squirm. I'd even say it made me far more uncomfortable than anything the modern torture-porn flicks have been able to muster. Gf ended up really digging this one too, and was a bit disappointed she hadn't seen it sooner.

I always assumed the title was referencing both Babe being a runner and the fact that he endures a sort of marathon of horror, pain, and confusion and manages to survive (or "finish the race"). Also, I may be reading into things that aren't actually there, but I found it interesting than the climax is basically an overmatched Jew that manages to turn the tables on an ex-Nazi and ultimately prevail.

[Advocate]

I always assumed the title was referencing both Babe being a runner and the fact that he endures a sort of marathon of horror, pain, and confusion and manages to survive (or "finish the race"). Also, I may be reading into things that aren't actually there, but I found it interesting than the climax is basically an overmatched Jew that manages to turn the tables on an ex-Nazi and ultimately prevail.

YOU ARE NOT WRONG!

[A Robot Bit Me]

I'm too dumb/lazy to follow thrillers with so many moving parts, so I tend to stop participatively watching around two thirds of the way through and entrust myself to the film's autonomy. Sometimes it works (The Killing). Sometimes it doesn't (Mission Impossible). It worked with Marathon Man.

One reason I'm drawn to '70s movies is the pent up frustration the films and their protagonists carry around. The premise of this movie, as far as I could follow it, is pretty absurd. But that doesn't matter. The anger matters. The anger is why I liked this.

Nice pick, Advocate.