UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - The Marathon Man -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

A person could get dizzy!

Paramount home video releases seem to be attached to an ever-swinging pendulum. Unrelenting and totally unconcerned with a steady stream of quality products.

John Schlesinger's wonderful 1976 Marathon Man hits the good side of the arc.

While not being a production necessarily ripe for 4k treatment, except for HDR/DV, it's a gorgeous home video release, down to the gloppy freeze-frame grain at the tail of the old logo, correctly captured.

A terrific thriller with a great cast that beautifully stands the test of time.

Based upon a terrific image harvest, and a nicely restored image that retain the look of film, this 4k has everything going for it.

So...

For those waiting for a review before making a purchase and wondering "Is it safe?"

A resounding "Yes, it's safe!"

Image – 5 (Dolby Vision)

Audio – 5 (DTS-HD MA 2.0)

Pass / Fail – Pass

Plays nicely with projectors - Yes

Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4

Upgrade from old Blu-ray - Yes

Highly Recommended

RAH


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See on Amazon

 

[Malcolm R]

Glad to hear it's a good disc, but it just adds to the building frustration of why Paramount has no consistency at all in their releases.

 

[madfloyd]

Thank you, pre-ordering!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Yes, I mean the primary thing I wanted to know here was if it was safe, so thank the heavens Mr. Harris cleared that up.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I don't know who is at the helm for these "restorations" but it feels more like that helm is abandoned. And just by chance and happenstance we get, MAYBE, a decent product!! Surely someone is gething data on the product responces from these releases? But either they dont care or the right people never got the memo!!

Or maybe in some dark cavern below Paramounts studios someone is tossing ancient Celtic roans to predict product quality...whatever it is...IT AINT WORKIN'!!!

 

[bujaki]

Here's my tiny personal connection to Marathon Man.
I used to live in Manhattan in the same building as Lotte and Paul Andor, both refugees from Nazi Germany. They both had bit parts in Casablanca. When their Hollywood roles dried up, they moved to NYC, specifically to 123 W93 St. We used to small talk with them, never intruding into their privacy. By then they were quite elderly and frail.
One fine day we realized that we stopped seeing Mr. Andor. When we inquired with the porter (who else?) we were told that he, a Gentile, had wished to return to Germany to die. Mrs. Andor, being Jewish, would not contemplate returning to Germany, so they divorced after a lifetime of marriage. Each died alone. So sad that so many years later, they were still victims of the Holocaust.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Here's my tiny personal connection to Marathon Man.
I used to live in Manhattan in the same building as Lotte and Paul Andor, both refugees from Nazi Germany. They both had bit parts in Casablanca. When their Hollywood roles dried up, they moved to NYC, specifically to 123 W93 St. We used to small talk with them, never intruding into their privacy. By then they were quite elderly and frail.
One fine day we realized that we stopped seeing Mr. Andor. When we inquired with the porter (who else?) we were told that he, a Gentile, had wished to return to Germany to die. Mrs. Andor, being Jewish, would not contemplate returning to Germany, so they divorced after a lifetime of marriage. Each died alone. So sad that so many years later, they were still victims of the Holocaust.

thanks for sharing...I appeciate experiences, getting insights from others.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I have never seen this movie. However, I did read the MAD Magazine version of it when I was a kid...

 

[bujaki]

An addendum to my post regarding the Andors. We just knew them as our neighbors, the Andors. It wasn't until we saw Marathon Man and my wife saw the scene where the Jewish woman recognizes the Nazi in the street and screams in horror, that my wife suddenly realized that was Mrs. Andor. We hadn't realized till then that the Andors were actors.
Aside: also living in our building were the late Puerto Rican actor, Shawn Elliott (Jacques Brel Is Alive and Living in Paris) and his very talented wife, Donna Murphy (Sondheim's Passion, etc.), but they moved in as I was about to move to Texas.

 

[Henry Gondorff]

Glad to hear it's a good disc, but it just adds to the building frustration of why Paramount has no consistency at all in their releases.

Well, no consistency is a little better than consistently bad.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

A person could get dizzy!

Paramount home video releases seem to be attached to an ever-swinging pendulum. Unrelenting and totally unconcerned with a steady stream of quality products.

Isn't this one from Kino and not Paramount themselves? That's what it says on Amazon.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

the 2.0 turns out to be a 2.0 Stereo Track and NOT 2.0 Mono - not sure if it’s just a downmix of the 5.1 or maybe the same 2.0 Dolby stereo from the final laserdisc release.

Really wished we got the original Mono audio.

Image quality looks good, but cause I have teal PTSD from so many releases it has me questioning some shots. Roy Scheider hotel room balcony curtains I swear have a teal tinge in some shots others they are white.

 

[sbjork]

Whew! I've had to track the Paramount pendulum so much lately that I was holding off on this one. No more!

 

[Wayne Klein]

One of my favorite films written by William Goldman. Looking forward to It.

 

[jayembee]

Well, no consistency is a little better than consistently bad.

I can understand that sentiment, but is it? Really?

If they were consistently bad, one would know that if it's from Paramount, it would be a bad release, and you wouldn't have to wonder whether it'd be worth getting. The way it is now, it's a crap shoot.

 

[wranim8]

Had a Super 8 print of this back in the day from Paramount, early 80's when they were releasing some of their features for the home market. Also bought Saturday Night Fever and Longest Yard. Still have them, although I think all my Super 8 color films have gone to red. Probably just need to put in the recycling bin one of these days. No matter, since I don't have a projector any more. Open matte, so enjoyed many boom mikes and dolly tracks! Great show (MM) but not necessarilly a terrific date night movie (at least when I showed it to my wife one night, big mistake!!).







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[dpippel]

I can understand that sentiment, but is it? Really?

If they were consistently bad, one would know that if it's from Paramount, it would be a bad release, and you wouldn't have to wonder whether it'd be worth getting. The way it is now, it's a crap shoot.

Well, it's a crap shoot until we start seeing reviews, then it's an easy matter to buy or not buy based on the critical consensus. I'll take no consistency any day over consistently bad.

 

[Bartman]

After a couple of recent Paramount Blu-ray disappointments (Fatal Attraction, 48 Hours) finally a nice 2K encode of Marathon Man. Of course, I always check reviews and they were universally positive for the 4K and some even mentioned the 2K. So lets hope KL does a good job with all future Paramount releases!

 

[Rick Thompson]

Had a Super 8 print of this back in the day from Paramount, early 80's when they were releasing some of their features for the home market. Also bought Saturday Night Fever and Longest Yard. Still have them, although I think all my Super 8 color films have gone to red. Probably just need to put in the recycling bin one of these days. No matter, since I don't have a projector any more. Open matte, so enjoyed many boom mikes and dolly tracks! Great show (MM) but not necessarilly a terrific date night movie (at least when I showed it to my wife one night, big mistake!!).

"Not necessarily a terrific date night movie" . . . Sir, you have a gift for understatement! On the other hand, if your date were to say "I really LOVED the dentist scene" you'd know to reconsider your future with her!