How is suspense created in Marathon Man?

Marathon Man (1974) is a thriller directed by John Schlesinger. It stars Dustin Hoffman and the film is highly praised for its fantastic shots and twisted plot. The ongoing build up of tension mounts suspense all through out the film.


This is a classic scene from Marathon Man, where it starts off with Babe being in the dark and alone. This implies that he is in danger and is in a vulnerable position. We also see that he is struggling; which makes the audience think, why is he in this situation in the first place (assuming you haven't watched the film completely). As the light bulb gets switched on, we also see another 2 men entering the same room as Babe. The silence between the 3 of them really creates a sense of authority that the man in the grey suit has over the man in the dark suit. The way he just snaps at the man in the dark suit, really emphasizes on his authority, and Babe dares not to say a word nor struggle any more. At this point, we feel scared for Babe as we don't know ourselves what would happen and all we can do is sit and watch.

Then more lights switch on, and an old man carrying a briefcase enters the room. The briefcase
gives it a sinister feeling as we don't know what the exact contents of it is, yet. Babe also starts twitching while the old man goes to wash his hands. We cannot help but feel nervous for Babe, as we know something bad is about to happen.

By maintaining the suspense of the scene, there is a follow up of mid shots of the two men who entered the room earlier. There is a shot reverse shot of Babe and the two guards, which shows the expressions and power they have over Babe (looking down at him). This puts emphasis on who's the protagonist and the antagonist in this situation and further intensifies the amount of suspense, that was already there previously.

Whilst the old man continuously asks "Is it safe?", this builds on the empathy we already have towards Babe as the old man doesn't even know of the dangers himself. However, the old man still remains calm, which is contradictory; as he is about perform something dangerous towards Babe. The last time the old man asks "is it safe?", Babe releases an scream that pierces through the silence, which leaves the audience to feel the pain within his scream.