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Marathon
Man (1976)
In John Schlesinger's paranoid suspense thriller:
- the early scene of the Parisian hotel room attack
on Henry "Doc" Levy (Roy Scheider), a globe-trotting,
covert American government agent (in a group known as "the
Division") working to foil aging, fugitive, ex-Nazi war criminals;
while standing on his balcony with a view of the Eiffel Tower,
Doc was garrotted from behind by an assailant, but was able to
fight off his brutal attacker and break his neck
- the character of Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier),
who was known for selling stolen contraband diamonds for his own
profit (derived from gold taken from Jews' teeth during WWII when
he was at Auschwitz, known as "The White Angel, Der Weie Engel,
due to his white hair")
- the break-in scene, when doctoral student Thomas "Babe" Levy
(Dustin Hoffman), "Doc's" brother, was taking a bath in
his tub in his NYC apartment, when two mysterious intruders entered
- he screamed for help, but was seized, dunked head-first into his
bathtub, and abducted
- the first session of death camp dentist Szell's sadistic,
grim torture of "Babe", in a window-less room, when he
calmly asked the baffling question:
"Is it safe?", unrolled a collection of probing, ominous-looking
dental instruments, and began to torture him; "Babe" stubbornly
refused to divulge any information; after causing intense pain, Szell
applied a dab of a medicinal liquid on his little finger to the affected
tooth: ("Is it not remarkable? Simple oil of cloves and how amazing
the results. Life can be that simple; relief - discomfort. Now, which
of these I next apply, that decision is in your hands, so, take your
time and tell me. Is it safe?")
Dr. Christian Szell: "Is it safe?"
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- the second session of interrogation, when Szell
spoke about how "Doc" had possibly relayed information
to "Babe"
before his death, and he would now use further torture to extract
assurances of safety: ("Your brother was incredibly strong.
Strength is often inherited. He died in your arms. He travelled far
and in great pain to do that. There has to be a reason....Please
don't worry. I'm not going into that cavity. That nerve's already
dying. A live, freshly-cut nerve is infinitely more sensitive, so
I'll just drill into a healthy tooth until I reach the pulp. Unless,
of course, you can tell me that it's safe"); "Babe" screamed
as the pain increased and then passed out; Szell spoke to his thugs:
"He knew nothing. If he'd known, he would have told. Get rid
of him"
- the scene of Babe's marathon run-escape across town
to get back to his Manhattan apartment
- the confrontation scene in a country house between
"Doc's" double-agent boss Peter Janeway (William Devane), "Babe's"
duplicitous girlfriend Elsa Opel (Marthe Keller), and Janeway's agents,
ending with everyone shot and dead except for "Babe"
- the scene of Szell's return to NYC from his hideout
in Uruguay, South America, in order to retrieve a valuable cache
of diamonds in a NYC bank safe deposit box, when he was recognized
by a jewelry shop assistant clerk (an Auschwitz survivor and former
victim) in a Jewish section of town, although Szell claimed his name
was "Christopher
Hess";
as he calmly but quickly left the shop and walked down a Manhattan
street, he was also identified by a Jewish woman, who spoke out and
cried after him: ("I know that man. It can't be Szell? Szell.
Szell! Szell! Szell! My God! Stop him! Szell! Stop Szell! It's Szell.
Der Weie Engel! Der Weie Engel is here. Oh, my God. Stop him. Stop
him! Der Weie Engel! Der Weie Engel. He has to be stopped. My God!
He gets away. Der Weie Engel is here! Szell. Stop him! Oh, please
help me. He's a beast. He's a murderer. You must stop him. Oh, my
God, there he goes! He's getting away!...Der Weie Engel is here!
Stop him! Stop him! I will stop him! I will stop him! The beast!
The beast!") - as she ran after him into the street, she was
struck by a taxi, but continued to cry out, as he ducked away in
the crowd
- however, the shop-owner had been following and tapped
Szell on his shoulder: ("I know who you are, you murderer. I
know who you are!"); he was swiftly slashed across the throat
by Szell, who then fled in a taxi from the scene
- the final scene - Babe's confrontation with Szell
in NYC's Central Park, when he told the ex-Nazi diamond hunter that
he could keep whatever diamonds he could swallow from his briefcase:
("You can keep as many as you can swallow...Yeah, swallow, eat.
Essen...I'm not joking. Essen!"); when Szell taunted and accused
Babe of being weak: ("You'll have to shoot me. Come on. Shoot.
You won't. You can't. You're too weak. Your father was weak in his
way, your brother in his, now you in yours. You are all so predictable"),
they fought and Szell fatally fell down a circular metal staircase
onto his own knife blade as he went to retrieve the diamonds, and
then tumbled into the water
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Garrotting of "Doc" Levy in Paris
Abduction of "Doc's" Brother "Babe" in
NYC
Death of "Doc's" Double-Agent Boss Peter Janeway
(William Devane)
Dr. Szell Recognized on NY Street
Szell's Slashing of Shop-Owner's Throat
Final Scene: "Babe" vs. Dr. Szell in Central Park
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