MovieChat Forums > Marathon Man (1976) Discussion > people walking out

people walking out

posted 11 years ago by JEyler1183
17 replies | jump to latest

I was born in 1983. I was just curious for the people that watched Marathon Man in it's original run, when it entered the torture scenes with the dentist, did people get up and walk out of your theaters? I have this film on DVD and I must say that getting through those scenes with Dustin Hoffman, just on pure guess was as graphic in 1976 as they still are in 2013. By the way, Marathon Man makes it to Blu-Ray in October of this year. I know I would want to skip those scenes on HD!

[–] rgibson-20 11 years ago

I was 18 when this film came out. I don't remember people leaving the theatre, but I do remember folks covering their eyes and covering their ears and some even shrieking during the dentistry. It was excruciating.

[–] kennellygerard 10 years ago

there is a similar scene in 'only god forgives'

instead of a dentist drill there are hair pins and an ice pick

[–] Two-Spacer 11 years ago

When the movie was released, I remember the NYT running an article about how excruciating the torture scenes were. I read the book before I saw the movie and was surprised that the torture scenes were so short. I don't remember anyone walking out, but my wife still refuses to watch that part of the movie.

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[–] pullman1881 10 years ago

I think I walked out - actually got up and went to the back of the auditorium. The torture scenes, if I remember correctly, were so explicit in the novel that I just couldn't sit there. I watched from the back of the theater in case I had to make a hasty retreat to the lobby.

[–] michaelsmith30 10 years ago

Actually the fight scene between Doc and the Asian guy had me cringing.

[–] Tabbycat (748) 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MIchiganJFrogg (-35) 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] elliot_condous 10 years ago

I guess times were different back then, but the torture scene really is not that bad, it is all implied, nothing is really shown in that much detail. It could have been made a lot more graphic.

[–] Grizzleberries 10 years ago

Yea, I felt the same.. It was definitely still hard to behold, but thanks to sick, disgusting and pointless torture porn flicks like Hostel and A Serbian Film/Irreversible, society's tolerance to sick *beep* has unfortunately risen..

[–] stones78 10 years ago

I just watched it the other night on a retro channel, and the "torture" scenes were very tame and short.

[–] choatelodge 10 years ago

Maybe a few dentists walked out...:)

[–] doowopfan 10 years ago

If you walked out of this you're a sissymary. Check out the original Old Boy for some real tooth torture.

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I did sixty in five minutes once...

[–] Vashramana 10 years ago

I have heard about the dental torture for years, and I finally decided to watch this movie to see what it was all about. I have to admit that it was barely torture at all. Nobody likes having painful dental work done to them, and the sound of that drill is horrible, but overall I was expecting much worse. When the dentist scenes were over I thought to myself "damn, the dentist scenes in Lethal Weapon 4 were much worse".

[–] preppy-3 8 years ago

I know I'm late in answering this but what the heck. Originally the torture scenes were much more graphic. The director attended a preview of the movie and said virtually half the audience walked out during the torture scenes. The very next day he had the sequence cut down to what it is today. He said he wanted the audience to stay in their seats not leave.

[–] daverindone 8 years ago

My brother in law saw it in '76 and told me people were leaving. To me, it was the idea that the torture kept escalating. First with a pic into a bad tooth, then the idea of him later drilling into a fresh nerve. Anyone who has ever felt nerve pain, at it's best, was agony. Plus Dustin's screaming and that whiiiirrrrr, grind....

[–] Pervy_Grin 7 years ago

I felt the same way about the torture scene in MM as the one in The English Patient in which Willem Dafoe's thumbs are cut off. It was more terrifying because it didn't show that much. The actual torture was mostly implied and left to our imagination, and that, coupled with Hoffman or Dafoe's anguish, makes it harder to bear than actually seeing it.

[–] Tyler-A-Arse 10 years ago

I'm sure it was graphic for it's day. But once you sit through stuff like Martyrs, Hostel, Irreversible, you can handle little stuff like this. I cringe at any torture scene. Once I realize it's gonna go on for a while, I'll fast-forward through it. I'm a wuss.