# German translation in "Marathon Man" (1976) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 20, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806 "2026-07-20T14:28:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/1 "2026-07-20T14:28:21Z")
Not that it’s actually needed for the scene, but inquiring minds wanna know. Near the beginning of the movie a car driven by a man named Szell stalls, and an already highly POed motorist (Rosenbaum, whose car repairs hadn’t gone according to plan) starts yelling for him to get moving. When Rosenbaum calls him a ‘schmuck,’ it really gets heated because Szell realizes that he’s dealing with one of those GD Jews that his people had tried to eliminate. Rosenbaum, hearing him talk back in German, is even more incensed that the person stalling him is a German. They trade exchanges back and forth, but Szell is speaking German. I did catch Juden (or was it Yehudi–I’ve already deleted it) and Scheiss, so I suspect there was some cursing. Anyone??? I meant to snatch a snip of it, but deleted it too soon. Probably available streaming somewhere. Trivia note on the odd chance that anyone doesn’t already know this: The actor playing Szell was a) a survivor of the Hindenburg disaster, and b) a person of interest in a suspected sabotage event to cause the disaster. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/2 "2026-07-20T20:01:44Z")
I caught one sentence: Gehen Sie die Toifel = Go to the devil. Go to Hell. There’s a clip on YouTube for your perusal in all it’s foreign profanity. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/3 "2026-07-20T20:34:50Z")
(Sorry, misspelled Teufel) From the William Goldman script: You’re a goddam menace, you know that, you senior cocker? Langsamer! Don’t you tell me ‘Take it easy,’ you kraut meathead. Don’t you tell me, ‘langsamer,’ you kraut meathead. Langsamer! You Limburger loving schmuck, Mach schnell. Sie verruckt Hund. **You insane dog.** Gehen Sie um Teufel. Jude! Dafur werden Sie Bevahlen! **You will pay for this** (should be “bezahlen”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/4 "2026-07-22T01:08:12Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Gehen Sie um Teufel. Gehen Sie **zum** Teufel. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/5 "2026-07-22T01:11:23Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Sie verruckt Hund. You **mad** dog! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/6 "2026-07-22T01:21:47Z")
I was going to say “mad” works better in this context ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/7 "2026-07-22T01:40:33Z")
If I’m not mistaken, **zum** is a contraction of “zu dem,” the dative case for “der Teufel.” (“To” requires use of the dative case.) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/8 "2026-07-23T16:27:41Z")
Thanks. A bit underwhelmed at what was actually being said. I thought it was going to be something really bad. Kinda reminds me of in “Requiem for a Heavyweight” when Mickey Rooney is so enraged at Jackie Gleason that he goes nuclear and calls him a. . . “Fink!” Or when the TV repairman tells Archie (in Yiddish), something like _May you live in a house with a thousand rooms, and get a stomachache in each room._ Then he tells Archie “You’ll never know [what I just said], but believe me. . . I got even!” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-translation-in-marathon-man-1976/1031806/9 "2026-07-23T17:59:35Z")
> [@Yiddish curse on "All in the Family": What did it mean?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yiddish-curse-on-all-in-the-family-what-did-it-mean/532119): > > And how did it mean that Levy (TV repairman) “really got even?” [Earlier thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=289156) I don’t think it was ever answered a) whether or not this was some well-known phrase in Yiddish or b) what was so "evening"about it. Basically “I hope you have a hotel with a thousand hungry guests.” Doesn’t seem very cutting, in my opinion. Maybe it was just that the writers figured that outside of New York City that hardly anyone would now what it meant, and assume it was really something vile. Anyone???