LORELAI: And, by the way, not just for me – it was pretty bad for him, too. It wasn’t like he was in love and I was miserable. We were both in pain – deep pain, Marathon Man kind of pain.
Marathon Man, a 1976 thriller directed by John Schlesigner, adapted by William Goldman from his own novel of the same name. It stars Dustin Hoffman as Thomas “Babe” Levy, a history student and avid runner who becomes embroiled in a plot by wanted Nazi war criminal Christian Szell, played by Laurence Olivier, known as “The White Angel” for his mane of white hair.
Marathon Man was a commercial and critical success, with Olivier’s performance being especially praised, and the character of Babe being someone audiences could relate to.
In the film, which is fairly violent overall, there are horrifyingly painful scenes of Szell torturing Babe by using dentistry tools to drill into his healthy teeth. Szell is considered one of the most memorable movie villains because of this, and the torture scenes among the scariest on film. Marathon Man is considered one of the greatest thrillers of all time.
Lorelai melodramatically compares her tedious date with Peyton as akin to the torture undergone by Babe in the film.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 