I've gotten two recent Marlington (or Remlin?) guns new in the last few years. One was fine, the other needed disassembly and de-burring of the internals to run smoothly. The aesthetic looks of the new guns is not as good as in the past. The easiest example to see of what I'm referring to is the bolt finish. Old guns from the 70's and earlier had a bolt polished to at least 200 grit, making them feel quite smooth. The newer bolts look like they came right off the lathe.
The newer guns (including JM gun from the 1980's onward) are not as well fit and finished as the earlier guns and generally won't feel quite as slick.
An older JM gun is the way to go if you can find the model you want and you like the smooth walnut or birch wood. The newer guns are usually just fine, but will either be big (oversized) laminate or matte finished walnut with poorly done laser checkering.
Functionally, once you clean up a marlin, the deer will never know the difference.