MovieChat Forums > Marathon Man (1976) Discussion > Question about Janeway

Question about Janeway

posted 9 years ago by kevinjo67
2 replies | jump to latest

If there is a poorly used movie cliche it's having the villians take each other out just to make it easier on the hero. Boy does it seem abused here.

Janeway actually shoots Szell's cronie before he can shoot Babe, gives Babe Szell's location, but then rushes to the door gun in hand very apparently about to shoot Babe in the back, so that Babe's lover has to yell out to warn him.

So why not just let the cronie shoot Babe in hte first place????

What did I mmiss here?

BTW, I actually love this flick. I don't believe plot contrivances necessarily ruin a film, or else where would North by Northwesst be?

Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.

[–] jon-52952 9 years ago

Exactly what I came here to say. Did not believe his motivation for killing the other cronie. There could have been an amazing scene in there showing Babe take out all three. Didn't have to be "bang, bang, bang" it could have used the entire location, which given the fact that it belonged to a sadistic nazi, could have been very interesting. I guess pacing was a concern.

[–] fzane (1001) 5 years ago

From what i gathered, Janeway wanted to get the diamonds for himself, so he was cleaning house. He thought he could get all of them dead, and then march off to rob Szell himself. But, why didn't Janeway just give Babe a bogus location, and let him drive off you may ask? That is most likely because Janeway knew he had no choice but to kill Babe since he could eventually describe Janeway to the police. In Janeway's mind, "everyone" had to die, so giving Szell's real location was inconsequential. Or, there's also an outside chance that Elsa knew the Szell's location, and may have announced to Babe that Janeway was lying. Either way, there are explanations for what Janeway did.