MovieChat Forums > Marathon Man (1976) Discussion > Why did Szell go to the diamond district...

Why did Szell go to the diamond district?

posted 10 years ago by yrnej
9 replies | jump to latest

Ground Zero for Jewish immigrants in America...I thought he was supposed to be smart?

I miss seeing the IMDb Daily Poll.
http://www.imdb.com/poll/questions

[–] movies789 10 years ago

Hurting for cash, at one of the world's great diamond centers, passage of time, disguised, hubris...

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PeterMarkoff 10 years ago

Yes, we are led to believe he was smart, but in that case I would expect he would st least roughly know the price of carat of diamond without going to the diamond market, he could basically ask in any jewellery shop what is roughly price without going to district filled with Jews, especially since he went there really just for information not carrying any diamond.

Peter Markoff
The best - Fight Club, American Beauty & Falling Down.

[–] malkycombat 10 years ago

Oh and Captain_Augustus_McCrae shut up you wanka

Plus he could have phoned the shops to find out. I've always questioned why go to the Jewish quater when your a top nazi on the run.

[–] wetcamelfood 9 years ago

If he was planning on selling for cash anyway, he'd have to go there eventually (I guess he could sell elsewhere but he probably wouldn't get full value if he did), especially since he was so worried about getting screwed over and his associates were dying off. I agree a phone scene may have worked as well but since they clearly wanted to show him getting the runaround when trying to find out the value and not getting the answer at the first place and have the woman start to recognize him on his way to the second where he does get the answer (and so we find out the worth too) and have the old man ID him also, they must've wanted to work in the drama of the woman yelling and Szell killing the man which a call scene wouldn't accomplish.

[–] dgiors 9 years ago

Seemed a little contrived for dramatic purposes. However, they seem to show him casing the place. He was paying attention to surveillance cameras and he might have wanted to test the waters before arriving with riches in hand. Seems fair.

[–] daverindone 9 years ago

Because he didn't have a Craigslist account.

Stephen King pulled his a bit in his great novella Apt Pupil. Dussinger ends up the same hospital room as one of the men from his camp, pretty convenient considering the story took place in California.

[–] SheffieldRoad 9 years ago

Sheffield Road

The diamond district scene is more about revealing the depth of his depravity and narcissism. Yes there was an ostensibly practical reason- to value the diamonds-but as has been pointed out, this he could have done on the phone. Instead, he chooses to go among his victims with breathtaking arrogance. It gives him a thrill until he perceives that he is being recognised, but he wins out by murdering his accuser.
It's a brilliant sequence which furthermore makes for a great reversal in Szell's final undoing- the sight of the diamonds disappearing distracts him and causes him to fall down the stairs. He causes his own death which is an emotionally satisfying outcome.

[–] roreyking (596) 2 years ago

OP: Christ, you’re an idiot. Szell needed to find out the current value of diamonds. Could they have made that more obvious?

And this is a suspense story, Einstein. Having a Nazi war criminal trying to escape detection in a heavily Jewish district is an excellent set-up for suspense.