BackgroundMarathon Man(1976) is a scary nightmare thriller, best known for the suspenseful pursuit scenes and a truly repellent scene of torture.In the kitchen/dinette of the Torrances"" home in Boulder, Colorado [where they have lived only about three months after relocating from Vermont where Jack was a school teacher], seven year-old son Danny (Danny Lloyd) eats a lunch of white-bread and milk with his passive, skinny, black-haired mother "Wendy" Winifred (Shelley Duvall), who is readingThe Catcher in the Rye.She was sensible and supportive of his qualities ("You""ve got a lot going for you.You""re bright, and you""re funny and I think you""re even romantic, if you""d only believe it.I don""t see why you put on a false mask every time you meet a girl"), and he always felt free and comfortable o speak to her openly.Both were exhausted.In their final few moments of freedom, they shared a cigarette, reflected back ("We gave ""em a helluva run for it, didn""t we?"), and Johnny admitted: "Charlie Potatoes.The revelation of Madeleine in the next scene in Ernie""s restaurant is masterfully directed.[Ernie""s supper club was an actual landmark, located at 847 Montgomery St.in San Francisco, but closed in September, 1995.In fact, the interior and exterior shots of Ernie""s in the film were sets.The restaurant was noted for its striking red interior, and later appeared in the Woody Allen filmTake he Money and Run (1969).