Marathon Man

"Is it safe?"

A 1974 William Goldman novel and 1976 film. Dustin Hoffman plays Thomas "Babe" Levy, a history graduate student and aspiring marathon runner. Babe seeks to follow in the footsteps of his father, a historian who committed suicide after being unjustly targeted by Joseph McCarthy. He receives a visit from his brother Henry, who, unbeknownst to Babe, is a government agent assigned to manage the fugitive Nazi Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier). Babe soon becomes entangled in events, and must fight to save himself from Szell and his allies.

A very surrealistic sequel to the novel, Brothers, was published several years later.


 * Almost-Dead Guy: A partial example, in that he can't manage to tell Babe anything, but everyone assumes he has.
 * Belated Happy Ending: In Brothers, it turns out.
 * Book Ends: In the first and last shots of Babe, he's running by the Central Park Reservoir.
 * Cassandra Truth:
 * Chekhov's Skill: Guess what.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: Dr. Szell
 * Depraved Dentist: One of the most famous examples.
 * Disposable Woman
 * Even Evil Has Standards: One of Szell's henchman turns his head terrified when Szell tortures Babe with his dental instruments.
 * Imagine Spot
 * Karmic Death: Film only;.
 * Memento MacGuffin: The gun Babe's father used to shoot himself.
 * The Mole: More than one.
 * Nazi Grandpa: Doctor Szell is kindly toward children who visit his dentist's office. He's less kindly to people who are in his care when he wants information from them.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Szell is loosely based on Josef Mengele.
 * And that dentist you didn't like.
 * Nothing Up My Sleeve: Szell has a retractable blade up his sleeve.
 * Oh Crap: The Reveal that and Babe's escape has failed.
 * Scenery Porn
 * Screw the Money, I Have Rules
 * Strapped to An Operating Table
 * Suddenly Sexuality: Toyed with. In the novel, there are early hints that, and it later turns out that they are. No big deal is ever made of this. In the sequel Brothers,.
 * The Tooth Hurts: Indeed it does.
 * This Is a Drill
 * Thwarted Escape
 * Token Evil Teammate: Melendez, the burglar Babe lets ransack his place in exchange for helping him with Szell's men.
 * Took a Level In Badass
 * To the Pain: "So, I'll just drill into a healthy tooth until I reach the pulp. That is unless, of course, you can tell me that it's safe."
 * You Wouldn't Shoot Me:
 * You Wouldn't Shoot Me: