How is suspense built in Marathon man?

Marathon Man is a 1974 paranoid thriller novel by William Goldman. In 1976 it was made into a film of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by John Schlesinger. The film is highly praised and was very cleverly shot. The film builds suspense throughout and is very effective in doing so.

In one scene we are shown shot of Roy Scheider, Doc, on the phone fiddling with a chocolate box. The non diagetic music over this shot arouses suspicion within the audience. This scene then cuts to a midshot of him gettting out of a car which, not only looks professional and powerful, but is also black connating death. The low angle shot of Doc as he gets out of the car and his professional looking suit makes him look powerful and suggests he is of a high status.We are then shown a establishing shot of him leaving the car. The scene around him looks busy and impowering and as he approaches a busy street we are shown a close up of a odd looking man playing some sort of drum like instrument. The man is dressed again in black and his eyes are concealed by dark sunglasses again prehaps connotations of death. He is also surrounded with african looking masks they have connotations of worship and voodoo and build on the tense atomosphere.

The scene here is now much darker and there is a diagetic sound of the man playing his instrument along with the orginal music. From now on the camera is hand held giving the scene a edgy un-even look making the audience feel un-easy about the whole situation. This is a close up on the mans bag suggesting that what it contains is the reason for all this suspicious action. The camera then cuts back to the odd looking man only this time a buggy significantly passes him by in the shot. Like the bag before the camera follows the buggy suggesting theres something dodgey about it. There is now also a diagetic very high pitch squeak that prehaps reflects that the buggy is not often used and doesnt actually therefore have a real child in it.

Piano is now added to the daunting music making it louder and increasing the pace of the scene. The next shots are multiple shots of the bag and the buggy. The camera is shot at an angle which never reveals the buggy's pusher head or face which makes the audience want to know. Following this there are various cutaways of a man watching Doc and shots of reflection his reflecting as he walks down the street. This creates a sense that someone is watching him and that he is under some sort of surveillance.

Once he has left the shop, the non diagetic daunting music returns and the hand held camera speeds up as he follows a now hasty Doc. The scene then cuts to the once again squeaky buggy only this time the buggy is left by his pusher and the high angle shot zooms into the buggy to reveal a childs doll. At this point a non diagetic ticking clock sound is introduced over the shot connotating a bomb. The scene once again cuts back to Doc who is now returning back to his car. There is another cutway of a close up of the childs dolls face where her eyes open again suggesting the theme that someone is watching Doc. The scene cuts to Doc and the music cuts out as he is about to drive away. The scene cuts once to a low angle shot of a man we have seen before who seems to be watching Doc. This shot makes him looks powerful but also agressive and mean. Finally the shot cuts to the buggy once again and it blows up with a massive bang!