Marathon Man

Babe, a doctoral student, is dragged into the path of a fugitive Nazi war criminal because of his brother's work. The part everyone remembers is the dental chair, where Szell probes a cavity and drills without anaesthetic while asking one question: is it safe. That line sits at number 70 on the American Film Institute's list of movie quotations, and the scene at number 66 on Bravo's hundred scariest movie moments. A famous story came off the set. Hoffman, working in method, said he had stayed awake for days to look exhausted for a scene, and Olivier reportedly answered, my dear boy, why don't you just try acting. Hoffman later said this was exaggerated; he had actually been out at a nightclub for personal reasons and Olivier was joking. William Goldman wrote both the 1974 novel and the screenplay, earning 500,000 dollars for the rights and the script. He estimated four versions before Robert Towne made final revisions. The ending was substantially rewritten, reportedly because Hoffman objected to Goldman's original. After a poor test screening in San Francisco, Schlesinger and editor Jim Clark cut several violent passages, part of the torture, and an eight and a half minute fight. Olivier won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award. Who it is for: viewers who love seventies paranoia thrillers. Who it is not for: anyone afraid of dentists. Even shortened, the scene is unbearable.