Dustin Hoffman: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked
5 Awesome Performances...
5. Thomas Levy - Marathon Man (1976)
Marathon Man is a thriller with tension so thick its almost suffocating, and is best remembered for the harrowing scenes of dental torture Hoffmans character endures. The story centres around a nerdy student who gets caught between his spy brother and a brutal Nazi war criminal, and must man up in order to survive. Hoffman makes Levy easy to root for; hes not some macho action hero out to save the world, hes just a normal man pushed to his absolute limits. He looks constantly exhausted and edgy during the later stages of the story, and even when he has a gun in his hands theres something incredibly vulnerable about him. Theres a famous story about Hoffman going without sleep for a few days to prepare for a scene, and then being mocked by co-star Laurence Olivier, who said: Why dont you try acting instead? It turns out Hoffman had stayed up because he was partying all night in Studio 54, proving that even with a roaring hangover Hoffman could still deliver the goods.
