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Marathon Man poster

Movies that feel likeMarathon Man (1976)

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

If you loved Marathon Man, the closest films we have are The Parallax View (1974), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Donnie Brasco (1997). All three share Marathon Man's tense and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Cutter's Way (1981).

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If Marathon Man hit the spot, these will too

The Parallax View poster
The Parallax View
1974 Β· dir. Alan J. Pakula
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Common ground in both: conspiracy and psychological thriller

An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

The Manchurian Candidate poster
The Manchurian Candidate
1962 Β· dir. John Frankenheimer
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9thriller Β· drama

The same preoccupation in both: conspiracy

The difference: Easier on the grit than Marathon Man

Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco, finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and soon races to uncover a terrible plot.

Donnie Brasco poster
Donnie Brasco
1997 Β· dir. Mike Newell
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· thrillerNetflix

New York City shapes both of them

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 1990s show

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

The French Connection poster
The French Connection
1971 Β· dir. William Friedkin
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.6action Β· crime Β· thriller

Both land tension and grit at once

The difference: Sits closer to action than Marathon Man does

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

The Negotiator poster
The Negotiator
1998 Β· dir. F. Gary Gray
β˜… 7.3action Β· crime Β· drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then paranoia

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.

Blow Out poster
Blow Out
1981 Β· dir. Brian De Palma
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4crime Β· mystery Β· thrillerPrime Video

Thriller built on tension, twice over

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead β€” a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

The Lincoln Lawyer poster
The Lincoln Lawyer
2011 Β· dir. Brad Furman
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.3crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both lean on grit more than on crime

Mick Haller is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister.

Cutter's Way poster
Cutter's Way
1981 Β· dir. Ivan Passer
πŸ… 92%β˜… 6.8drama Β· mystery Β· thriller

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely accused of murder, Cutter sets out for revenge in his own inimitable style.

Perfect Blue poster
Perfect Blue
1998 Β· dir. Satoshi Kon
πŸ… 85%β˜… 8animation Β· thrillerMax

Common ground: psychological thriller

Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.

The Little Things poster
The Little Things
2021 Β· dir. John Lee Hancock
πŸ… 44%β˜… 6.3drama Β· crime Β· thrillerRent or buy

Paranoid thriller in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter to search for a serial killer who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.

Three Days of the Condor poster
Three Days of the Condor
1975 Β· dir. Sydney Pollack
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· mystery

Crime with a pulse of tension, in both cases

When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.

Chinatown poster
Chinatown
1974 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1crime Β· mystery Β· thriller

Both lean on grit more than on drama

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

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The best-reviewed films that share Marathon Man’s defining feeling.