Marathon Man turns 50 this week, and John Schlesinger’s 1976 suspense thriller is still remembered for one sequence above all: Szell torturing Babe with dental skills, and the drilled-in dread around it. The production details are just as gripping, from an early Steadicam release to a payday before the novel was published. Here is the breakdown.
A Steadicam first that beat Rocky by two months
Marathon Man was the first feature using Garrett Brown’s then-new Steadicam that saw theatrical release. It predated the premieres of both Bound for Glory and Rocky by two months. The stabilization system was used extensively in the running and chase scenes on the streets of New York City.
Goldman was paid before the book was published
William Goldman was paid a reported US$500,000, equivalent to $3.26 million in 2025, for the film rights to his novel and to write a screenplay, before the novel had been published. Another source said the figure was $450,000, equivalent to $2.94 million. Goldman estimated that he wrote four versions of the screenplay, and Robert Towne was brought in at the end.
Robert Evans compared it to The Godfather
Producer Robert Evans said, “The book reads like the movie-movie of all time.” He called the rights “a cheap investment” and added, “This is the best thing I’ve read since The Godfather.” Evans also warned it could go all the way “if we don’t foul it up in the making.”
Pacino was the first idea for Babe Levy
John Schlesinger originally envisioned Al Pacino, Julie Christie, and Laurence Olivier in the lead roles, and Robert Shaw as Janeway. Robert Evans vetoed Pacino and proposed Dustin Hoffman. Olivier was cast early, but his health problems made his appearance uncertain; Richard Widmark auditioned for the part before Olivier recovered. Silent film actress Madge Kennedy made her final on-screen appearance in the film.
One set filled two soundstages
The only purpose-built set used in the film was the interior of the Central Park reservoir, which was reconstructed on the Paramount Pictures backlot. It was so large that it took up two soundstages. The film was shot from October 1975 to February 1976 on location in New York City, Paris, and Los Angeles.
Schlesinger’s music brief was pure pain
John Schlesinger asked composer Michael Small to make music that matched the theme of “pain, and the endurance of pain.” The opera Hérodiade by Jules Massenet is featured in the scene at the Paris Opera, sung by Joseph Rouleau with the orchestra of the Royal Opera House and conducted by John Matheson.
Olivier’s performance powered the reviews
Laurence Olivier’s performance was particularly praised. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 82% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Marathon Man 3 stars out of 4 and wrote that, as well-crafted escapist entertainment, the movie works with relentless skill.
Szell’s White Angel name came from Mengele
The nickname given to Laurence Olivier’s character, “der weiße Engel” (The White Angel), was inspired by SS doctor Josef Mengele, whom some prisoners nicknamed the “Angel of Death” or “The White Angel.” Szell got rich by converting gold fillings he pulled from the teeth of Jews killed at Auschwitz, then converted the wealth into the more concentrated form of diamonds.
That is the breakdown of Marathon Man at 50. Which detail about the production of the 1976 thriller stays with you most?
Facts from Wikipedia: Marathon Man (film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.