Is it safe?
Marathon Man is a truly thrilling film - something that most "thrillers" actually fail to achieve. In some ways it seems like a precurosr to the "Bourne" films with its far-flung locations and its one-man-against-the-system premise. If you want to sit back in your seat and be glued to the spot by a film the like of which they just don't seem to make any more then you've come to the right place. For me it's right up there with other classics of its era - Three Days Of The Condor, French Connection and Day Of The Jackal - packed with surprises and twists and turns, action and great perfromances from Hoffman, Olivier et al. And, if you've seen the film before, it wears well and is worth a return visit.

This DVD also has an excellent Making Of with interesting interviews with Bob Evans and Dustin Hoffman and William Goldman's honest take on the 'new' ending drafted on by the film-makers.

Good trivia: The little guy at the start of the film who takes the diamonds out of the bank vault was a survivor of the Hindenberg disaster and his real name, believe it or not, was Ben Dova! The actress who plays the woman who identifies Olivier's character and utters those fateful words, "Der weisse Engel!" over and over was, like her character, a survivoe of the camps.

DIAMONDS ARE NOT FOREVER
The professional reviewers never seemed to think too highly of this movie, and this amateur can't see why. Olivier is terrific as a former Nazi, who's forced to come out of hiding when his brother dies, leaving a veritable warchest of diamonds in a New York safe deposit box. That the diamonds were bought by this heinous dentist from tooth extractions of gold and silver from victims of Nazi concentration camps is of no matter whatever.Hoffman's brother is hot on Zell's (Olivier's) trail, when the dentist confronts and stabs him to death; the victim falling at Hoffman's feet. That does it; no more graduate work, no more training for road races until Hoffman's brother's death is avenged.While the path to Zell is fraught with pain, duplicity,and danger, Hoffman..well,see for yourself! You'll be highly entertained, even if the "experts" weren't.

Can I give it 6 stars?
What more can be said......This movie has been out long enough for everybody to have already seen it.

Better then 5 stars.

Is It Safe
Those words still scare me and I still hate dentists. Great movie with Hoffman entirely scared and confused. Good supporting cast. Done well, creepy enough and a edge of the seater.

Marathon Man
Dustin Hoffman re-grouped with "Midnight Cowboy" director Schlesinger for this nerve-jangling thriller based on screenwriter William Goldman's novel. Olivier, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, is chilling as the sadistic Szell. Twisty and paranoiac, "Man" delivers edge-of-your-seat suspense straight through to its memorable finish.