My alternate title for this one is "Nebbish vs. the Nazis". I've seen it 4 times and it's as scary each time. You can put aside all his 40's and 50's Shakespeare stuff--Laurence Olivier has never been better than in this movie. His portrayal of the monstrously cold-blooded Dr. Szell is truly blood curdling--in every scene he's in he's absolutely mesmerizing. (A welcome treat after his pitiful performance in "Bunny Lake is Missing.") Dustin Hoffman is the perfect foil as the naive and 'nebbishy' graduate student who inadvertantly gets embroiled in it all. He's as good in this as he's ever been. These two together in this film is acting at its very best. Solid supports from Roy Scheider and William Devane fill this out nicely. Notice that virtually no special effects were needed--They just don't make action thrilers like they used to.
Review of Marathon Man
