125 minute running time so 25 minutes too long … yes, the performances by Hoffman and Olivier and Scheider are good, but the story makes no sense. Why would Levy’s father and brother be involved with Der Weisse Engel? That part made no sense to me and sort of ruined the movie.

But I suppose it’s a green-go despite the lack of “plot logic,” maybe for the dental torture scene alone. It’s another in the gritty-70s-Manhattan series of movies … oddly the World Trade Center doesn’t appear in a shot of southern Manhattan, so they must have used old stock footage there? Hoffman din’t like the original ending where he kills Olivier, so they brought in Robert Towne to re-write the ending where Olivier impales himself, which I do think is better. This is a John Farr recommendation.