David Robbins
c 2013


Any William Goldman fans here? In case you’re not aware, Goldman has a distinguished career as a wordsmith. Novels, screenplays, plays, he’s done them all, and done some of them exceptionally well, as his two Academy Awards, plus other awards, demonstrate.
 If his name still doesn’t ring your mental bell, perhaps mention of some of his works might. How about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Did you ever see The Princess Bride? Or maybe his adaptation of All The President’s Men? The list goes on and on.
This particular From Story To Screen is about Marathon Man. It came out in 1974 and was made into a movie in ’76. [The DVD. There's also a Blu-ray. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.]
How do the two compare?
The book is superlative. Ostensibly, it’s the story of a college student called Babe who gets caught up in international intrigue. Sounds typical enough, but in Goldman’s hands it becomes a riveting multi-layered thriller with suspense so keen, it keeps you on the edge of your chair. [The cover to one of the book editions. There are about half a dozen out there.]
The plot involves Nazis, and a shadow agency of the U.S. government, and a horrific torture scene that the producers of the movie wisely included, and one other element they included but didn’t portray as wisely.
That element is the college kid’s brother, an operative for the shadow agency, who also happens to be one of the top assassins in the world, if not ‘the’ best. His code name is Scylla, and it can truthfully be stated that he nearly steals the book from Babe. He would have nearly stolen the movie, too, except that the makers didn’t present him as they should have. More on that in a bit.
Goldman does a remarkable thing with Scylla, He presents him so realistically, so poignantly, that this ruthless killing machine becomes the most sympathetic character in the novel. His presumed death, in fact, (more on that in a bit, too), is one of the most emotionally charged scenes in the book.
As with so many of Goldman’s works, Hollywood leaped at the chance to do a film version. Directed by the great John Schlesinger, with Dustin Hoffman as Babe and Roy Scheider as Scylla, it sticks to the book in nearly every respect. The exception, amazingly enough, is in its depiction of the latter. [Roy Scheider as Scylla. No one can say he wasn't fit enough for the part.]
Right up front, let’s note we can’t fault Roy Scheider. He does a superb job. The problem, if you will, is that the movie doesn’t delve into the aspects of Scylla’s character that make him so terrific in the novel. Oh, we see that he’s some sort of spy, and in a fight scene we learn he kills people, but Scylla’s true stature is never made clear. It detracts from the ‘Wow!’ factor that Goldman puts in the novel, and ultimately detracts from the movie, itself.
It’s a shame. If they had done Scylla right, Marathon Man, the movie, would have ranked as one of the best of its genre. Don’t get me wrong. It’s still a fine film. It just misses greatness by a hair. [James Wing Woo as the Chinese assassin Chen. In the novel, his fight with Scylla is one of the highlights of the book. In the movie, not so much.]
Still, if you’re looking for a terrific story to read, track down the book. And if you don’t mind them missing that hair, track down the movie. Or better yet, snag both, read the one and watch the other, and see if you agree. [It would be remiss of me to talk about the movie and not mention the legendary Laurence Olivier as the vilest dude this side of anywhere. If you're planning a trip to the dentist this week, you might want to hold off watching the movie until after your visit.]
Now back to that ‘presumed’ business. You see, Scylla proved so popular that Goldman brought him back from the dead, so to speak, and wrote a sequel mostly about him.Entitled Brothers, it has some cool moments but doesn’t quite equal the excellence of its predecessor.
Those who have read Marathon Man will get a grin out of this quote, which is a fitting way to end this piece: ‘He was Scylla the rock. On his good days, anyway.’