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Steve McQueen in Papillon (1973)

Metacritic reviews

Papillon

58

Metascore

10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
  • 80
    The New York TimesVincent Canby
    The New York TimesVincent Canby
    A big, brave, stouthearted, sometimes romantic, sometimes silly melodrama with the kind of visual sweep you don't often find in movies anymore.
  • 80
    TV Guide Magazine
    TV Guide Magazine
    Papillon was produced with consummate technical skill and offers brilliant acting by McQueen and Hoffman.
  • 70
    Village VoiceAndrew Sarris
    Village VoiceAndrew Sarris
    Shaffner has really made an exhilarating movie out of the most dangerously depressing material. [10 Jan 1974, p.56]
  • 60
    EmpireIan Nathan
    EmpireIan Nathan
    One of the greatest behind-bars movies ever, the result finds director Franklin J. Schaffner making the most of both his sun-drenched locations and his leading man, who squintily acts even co-star Dustin Hoffman well off the screen.
  • 60
    TimeRichard Schickel
    TimeRichard Schickel
    Audiences whose expectations do not exceed their grasp will find it a much more comfortable vehicle for escape than any that McQueen & Co. discover on location.
  • 50
    Chicago Reader
    Chicago Reader
    No sense of complicity between filmmaker and spectator, no depth, no ambiguity, no production value spared, plenty of running time and pomposity, and a desperate sense of trying to do everything and please everybody.
  • 50
    Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
    An expensive, exhaustive, 150-mintue odyssey that doesn’t so much conclude as cross the finish line and collapse. It has been outfitted with expensive stars and a glossy production, but it doesn’t really make us care.
  • 50
    Variety
    Variety
    For 150 uninterrupted minutes, the mood is one of despair, brutality, and little hope. The script is very good within its limitations, but there is insufficient identification with the main characters.
  • 50
    Time Out
    Time Out
    With Schaffner unable to find the necessary perspective to prevent the film from becoming unevenly episodic, it ends up looking as if it were tacked together by at least three different directors.
  • 50
    The New YorkerPauline Kael
    The New YorkerPauline Kael
    A methodical, pointlessly grueling movie.
  • See all 10 reviews on Metacritic.com
  • See all external reviews for Papillon

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