Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The opening old man road rage car chase – 'very 70s, goes on and on.' The hotel fight scene (piano wire). Doc's death ('Frankly I don't give a fool').
• CR (winner): 'Is it safe?' The most iconic scene from the film. Also everything with Doc in Paris – 'so evocative and creepy. Chen and the stroller and the opera.'
• Bill: The showdown at the end in Central Park. The reservoir diamond scene.

• CR: OG Nazis still in the mix – walking and talking. 'That's the answer.'
• Bill: Training for a marathon being a rogue thing – 'What are you doing? Running a marathon? 26.2 miles? Nobody's chasing you?'
• CR: New York City 1976 – the best movie location on the planet.
• Bill: McCarthyism victims as a crucial plot device – 'you don't see this anymore.'
• Bill: A stealth gay subplot that couldn't be explicitly addressed in 1976.

• CR: Location shooting in NYC and Paris – 'the ultimate, you can't do New York and Toronto.'
• CR: Doc's death scene – 'the peak creepy 70s conspiracy scene with the red fountain through the glass.'
• Bill: When a famous star dies way sooner than expected (the Janet Leigh from Psycho move) – Scheider at 40 minutes. Dentistry as torture.
• Bill: The fake-out plot swerve where Devane seems to save Babe but is actually pumping him for information.
• Bill: When someone's random non-fight training comes in handy in an action movie – 'the marathoning now it's going to pay off.'
• CR: The Steadicam use – one of the first three movies to use it.
• Bill: Anyone opening a safety deposit box in a movie – always good.

Bill: The opera scene with Olivier getting dressed. The Michael Small score.

• Bill: The girlfriend Elsa (Marthe Keller) – 'she's very pleasant but I don't think she's kind of up to stuff enough.' Also: 'I have no idea why we go to the farmhouse. It's such a weird part of the movie.'
• CR: The farmhouse detour. In the book it makes more sense (she gets a neighbor's car and suggests the house), but 'I would have not done that at all and spent more time with Roy Scheider.'
• CR: On repeat viewings, the childhood flashbacks don't add much beyond what the movie itself conveys.

• Bill: The old man road rage drivers in the opening car chase.
• CR: Has a different winner (not specified in this section).

• Bill (two-parter): If you're making this in 1976, it's a better Harrison Ford part. Pre-'Star Wars', he has the size from the book, believable as a runner, better with the Elsa romance. 'Nobody's better than Harrison Ford if people are coming after him.'
• Bill: In 1984, this is an epic Tom Cruise part. 'He gets to run. He gets to pretend he knows a lot about history. He gets to seduce a hot foreign lady. He gets to run again. He gets to freak out.' CR: 'I'm surprised he doesn't remake it now – it's the most Cruise-iest part.'

• Schlesinger wanted Charlotte Rampling for Elsa but Robert Evans insisted on Marthe Keller. Bill: 'Charlotte Rampling in this movie would have been illegal.'
• When Olivier had health problems, Richard Widmark was the backup.
• Julie Christie was also considered for Elsa.

• Bill and CR (winner): Richard Bright (Al Neri from 'The Godfather'). Bill: 'Didn't realize he was the dad of Beautiful Girls.'
• Runner up: Marc Zuber (Mendez from the 'Miami Vice' Calderon's Revenge episode).

• The 8.5-minute Doc fight sequence was cut for violence. Goldman was furious – Scheider took the role partly because of it.
• The Steadicam was used for the third time ever; this was the first movie released using it.
• The marathon runner in flashbacks is Abebe Bikila (1960 Olympic marathon, ran barefoot).
• When Hoffman runs to the drugstore, the 'Jaws' marquee is visible in the background.

• Dustin Hoffman: Bill says it's this year (76 – 'Marathon Man' and All the President's Men). CR says 'Kramer vs. Kramer'.
• Dentistry as a movie device: Yes (this and Little Shop of Horrors).
• Roy Scheider: Around here ('Jaws', this, Sorcerer, All That Jazz).
• William Goldman: 'This and All the President's Men in 76, wins the Oscar. His price is now the biggest of any screenwriter.'
• Torture scenes: Top 3 all time. Craig: 'Casino Royale'. Also 'Reservoir Dogs'.
• Jewish revenge movies: 'Inglourious Basterds' wins, but this is up there.
• Diamond district scenes: This and Uncut Gems.
• Evil Nazi characters: This, the guy who melts in Raiders, Christoph Waltz.

Spielberg. CR: 'Nobody does Jewish revenge like Spielberg.' Despite Scorsese being the consummate New York director.

Bill and CR: The Janeway/Devane part.

• Bill: Why did Devane tell Babe the entire Szell story while driving around? Classic screenwriter exposition dump.
• CR: Why did Szell go to the Diamond District himself? No henchmen left.
• Bill: Szell's disguise was just shaving the top of his head – 'could have done a little more. Maybe grow facial hair, change glasses, put on a Thurman Munson jersey.'
• Bill: Hoffman's jogging form is 'a little lurchy' for someone training for a marathon. 'Those guys glide.'
• Bill: Why go to the upstate farmhouse for 8 minutes? Cut the farmhouse, keep the 8.5-minute Doc fight scene.

CR: The dental tools. Bill would rather die than see those again.

CR: 'If you kill the Nazi dentist, take his diamonds. You earned it.' Bill: 'Put them in your pocket.'

• CR: Boys from Brazil – go Olivier.
• Bill: Uncut Gems (diamond district), or Munich (Jewish revenge).

Laurence Olivier (both Bill and CR). Bill: 'When somebody parachutes into a movie as a super famous respected actor and does something like this, it's brave.'

Craig's review: 'Wonderful, incredibly suspenseful old-school thriller. My #1 takeaway was that I actually didn't know what was going on for the first whole hour – and that's what makes it work. Today they'd never do this.'