Marathon Man is a 1976 suspensethriller film directed by John Schlesinger. It was adapted by William Goldman from his 1974 novel of the same name and stars Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane and Marthe Keller. The music score was composed by Michael Small.
Thomas Babe Levy Dustin Hoffman is a history Ph.D. candidate and avid runner. Levy is researching the same field as his father, who committed suicide after the Communist witch hunts of the Joseph McCarthy era ruined his reputation. Babes brother Henry Roy Scheider, known as Doc, presents himself as an oil company executive but is really a government agent, involved in an elaborate network of couriers who transport diamonds stolen during World War II from wealthy Jews seeking to flee Germany, which are then sold on world markets for the secret benefit of fugitive Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell Laurence Olivier. Szell, a dentist who tortured Jews in a concentration camp, escaped capture and is now living off the diamond sales as a fugitive in South America echoing real life Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.Christian Szells brother, 72yearold Klaus Ben Dova N, lives outside New York City and serves as the initial diamond courier. Klaus Szell dies in a Manhattan road rage incident, immediately after withdrawing some diamonds from a safe deposit box Klaus was a random innocent victim of the accident, but Christian naturally suspects foul play, immediately putting everyone in the courier network under suspicion anyone who obtains one of the two keys to the safe deposit box would immediately have access to a fortune in diamonds. Deducing this after having heard of the road rage incident from his boss Peter Janeway William Devane, Doc realizes that Christian Szell will have to travel to New York to retrieve the diamonds. ........
Source: Wikipedia