"Marathon Man" Classical acting vs. method acting, a sparkling showdown between old and new actors

"Marathon Man" synopsis

Babe, a graduate student who runs marathons and admires Abebe, becomes involved in a strange incident after her brother Doc's death. Eventually, the incident draws Babe into a diamond smuggling case orchestrated by Nazi war criminals...

Index

• Olivier's overwhelming presence as he joyfully plays the role of evil.
• “Angel of Death” Dr. Josef Mengele
• The insatiable tenacity of “legendary charisma” Robert Evans
• Olivier was sick
• Classical acting vs. method acting

Olivier's overwhelming presence as he joyfully plays the role of evil.

“Is it safe?”

In 2005, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced the ``Top 100 Best Lines in American Movies''. Such as "Here's looking at you, kid" from "Casablanca " (1942) and "May the Force be with you" from " Star Wars " (1977). Among the many punch lines, this line from ``Marathon Man'' (1976) ranked 70th.

If you haven't seen the movie, you probably won't know what's going on, but this is about Dr. Christian Zell (Laurence Olivier), a former Nazi member, trying to get the main character Babe (Dustin Hoffman) to reveal the location of the diamond. ) is a brutal phrase uttered when torturing someone. Babe is an ordinary graduate student at Columbia University who doesn't know anything about diamonds. Although he desperately tries to show that he has nothing to do with this matter, Zell's expression does not change at all and he repeats "Is it safe?" to confirm the whereabouts of the diamond. Then he puts a drill through Babe's teeth.

"Marathon Man" (c) Photofest / Getty Images

There is also an anecdote that an audience member who saw the film at a preview fell ill due to the gruesome torture scene, and the length of the film was shortened when it was released in theaters. The graphic close-up of him tearing out his opponent's internal organs with a wrist blade was also completely cut out. That's why Olivier's overwhelming villain role in this movie stands out. No wonder he was ranked 34th in the villain category of the ``Top 100 Heroes and Villains of the 100 Years of American Film'' published by AFI in 2003.

This is one of the highlights of Laurence Olivier's long acting career.

“Angel of Death” Dr. Josef Mengele