Papillon

Papillon is one of my all-time favorites films. Steve McQueen is fantastic in the lead role. Dustin Hoffman is at his finest as Louie Dega. Very memorable, unforgettable performances, shocking action scenes and psychological thrills and twists. I cannot write enough good things about this film. After years of looking, I recently found this film on DVD and added it to my collection. This is the kind of movie that you can watch again and again and continue to see things you've never noticed before. This film never gets old and you never grow tired of watching Papillon. Some of the cast includes Vic Tayback also known as Mel from the hit TV series "Alice." He is convincing as a mean, surly prison guard. Also, Billy Tumy known for his role in "Lost in Space" as Will Robinson, plays a young, doomed inmate. There are other character actors included in the cast that you will more than likely recognize throughout the film. I give this film the strongest and highest of recommendations.

Watching Papillon today it occurred to me that the film it most resembles is Birdman of Alcatraz. Both Steve McQueen and Burt Lancaster were sent to prison for murder convictions although allegedly McQueen was innocent. Both were based on true characters who wrote, in the case of Lancaster ghost wrote, their own memoirs of their time in the joint and the films are based on those books. And certainly both men were rebel spirits.

In Lancaster's case it's an internal rebellion against the rules of the penal system. Of course in the work he did developing those bird remedies, he rehabilitated himself in a way that 'the system' did not understand.

But in the case of Henri Charriere aka Papillon for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, he just wants out of the penal colony at Devil's Island and makes many attempts to get shed of the place. The film is about his many attempts and his refusal to quit no matter what is done to break him. Devil's Island in the Thirties was not any better than it was when Alfred Dreyfus was doing his time in the tropical prison. Still McQueen is resourceful enough as you will see.

McQueen though he's far from French has the rebel persona that really fits this part. Had he been younger and this been a French production I could have seen Jean Gabin in the role. It's one of McQueen's best roles and he holds your interest throughout this nearly three hour film.

Leading an impressive supporting cast is Dustin Hoffman who plays what we would now call a white collar criminal. He becomes a devoted acolyte of McQueen seeing he's going to need friends himself if he's to survive Devil's Island. He also wants to escape in the worst possible way.

Later on we see Hoffman in a different light as if completing the Birdman of Alcatraz analogy, Hoffman's role is similar to that of Telly Savalas who's a tough character when we first meet him in Birdman, but later becomes acclimated to prison life. Hoffman has worked himself into a nice situation relatively speaking on the Island and has resigned himself that this is his home for better or worse. It's a very good performance by Hoffman as his character changes during the film.

I'd really recommend seeing both Birdman of Alcatraz and Papillon back to back. It's a good prison doubleheader for a rainy afternoon.

Excellent movie. Entertaining and realistic.

Although media promotion hinted that this was another version of "The Great Escape", the movie, and Steve McQueen, avoided what would have been a fatal pratfall - remaking the 1962 POW war film with different costumes.

In fact, this was an excellent film that stood on its own merit(despite the fact that historians claim the story is not true) It was an excellent depiction of the French penal colony in Guana. It would have been great even without McQueen in the title role.

Dustin Hoffman was his usual superb actor, making the most out of his role. McQueen wisely avoided playing himself, and as a result, his role was stronger and believable.

Location scenes and overall plot were superb.

Outstanding film.

This movie is a punch in the stomach, really shocking, the makeup, scenery, clothing, performances especially Steve Mcqueen, are amazing.

I was really intrigued watching the movie and couldn't stop thinking, why do we humans subject ourselves to degrading situations like that? The disproportion of the crime committed to the penalty, subjecting the individual to madness. For anyone like us who has never experienced life in prison, some scenes are sometimes revolting, as much as it is there, something legal in terms of law, I believe that it is not morally acceptable to subject people to such misery and suffering, in my view it would be death is better than literally losing mental control, physical health in every aspect.

Anyway, the film portrays very well what happened on Devil's Island, really shocking, it reminded me a little. Idi i smotri (1985), a film from which I was really uncomfortable with such fidelity to reality.

The true story of Henri Charriere (nicknamed "Papillon" because of his butterfly tattooed chest), a Frenchman falsely accused of murder and sent to French Guiana's inescapable penal colony. Charriere spent years trying to escape from this mosquito-ridden, malaria-prone hellhole, but every attempt somehow went awry. On many occasions, the recaptured Charriere was sent into solitary confinement and only survived thanks to his incredible mental strength. Ultimately, the authorities lost hope of taming his urge to break out, so they abandoned him on Devil's Island, a tiny land mass where guards were not needed since the constantly ferocious surrounding sea was ample deterent for any would-be escapees.

Franklin J. Schaffner directs this film quite well, capturing the appalling prison conditions vividly and getting a wonderful, multi-layered performance from Dustin Hoffman as Charriere's friend, convict Louis Dega. However, McQueen struggles with the demands of the lead role. Yes, he's physically accurate in the part and during the escape sequences he looks convincing. However, during the quieter moments, McQueen looks distinctly uncomfortable, and his natural "cool" persona doesn't equate with the humiliated, tormented character he is supposed to be playing. The subsidiary characters are great, especially the guy with the tattooed face who attributes his ugly tattoos to an evening of drunkeness, and Anthony Zerbe as a grossly disfigured leper who asks Papillon to share a cigar with him.

Best sequence? Probably the one where McQueen and another escapee flee through the rainforest from some soldiers, using natural jungle-based narcotics to preserve their energy levels.