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| The intense, beautifully painted poster for Franklin J. Schaffner's Papillon |
Papillon is quite a movie.
At 151 minutes, it is an epic length prison escape movie based on the bestselling autobiography by Henri Charrière. It takes place in exotic, cruel settings and stars two of the biggest stars of its day, Steve McQueen (The Great Escape (1963)) and Dustin Hoffman (Straw Dogs (1971)). Furthermore, it's a great picture!
It is the story of 'Papillon' [French for butterfly], an - according to himself - innocent man accused of murder, who is to be punished by his motherland, France, in its penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana, off the North Atlantic coast of South America. Already on the strenuous boat journey there, the entrepreneurial Papillon fixes his mind on escape and makes a good ally in Louis Dega, a man very much his opposite, who is guilty of counterfeiting and has money with him.
The story then proceeds with its ups and downs for our two heroes. More intimate knowledge of their lives before their sentences isn't really necessary for the tale, which is one of survival and struggle for freedom. Also absent in Papillon: Women. Almost completely. Whether it makes the film a 'man's movie', I can't say, but I didn't miss them. - Another great epic, David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) also nearly doesn't have any women in it, (only those few lookers that the studio forced into it, as I recall.)
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| Steve McQueen in perhaps his career's finest performance, as Franklin J. Schaffner's Papillon |
Steve McQueen is awesome in the title role, which might be his best performance period. He goes all-in in an incredibly demanding and exhausting part that includes scenes depicting the man's two years (!!!) in solitary confinement (including 6 months in total darkness), which McQueen does brilliantly. And Hoffman is perfect in the more cerebral, cautious part as Dega.
Adding to the intense inherent interest that the film has going for it is the fact that it was shot on locations in Spain, Jamaica and Hawaii. Tropical beasts, elaborate, nail-biting escapes, lunacy, executions, extreme exertion, leprosy and so much more all make the film a very rich experience.
It ends in SPOILER a legendary cliff-jumping scene, shot off the cliffs of Maui, which McQueen insisted on performing himself and later called "one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life", - the man was indeed a wildcat and a daredevil.
The details:
Papillon was - undeservedly - only nominated for one Oscar: For Jerry Goldsmith's (Gremlins (1984)) score, which is truly great; restrained, suspense-heightening, classy stuff.
He had worked twice before with Papillon's great director, Franklin J. Schaffner (Planet of the Apes (1968)), - on Apes and Patton (1970), - and that relationship would continue in Islands in the Stream (1977), The Boys From Brazil (1978) and Lionheart (1987). Schaffner also deserved a nomination, in my opinion, for Papillon is an extremely well-held suspense movie with one strong sequence followed by another followed by another. There are also a few dream/hallucination scenes, and at least one of them is very evocative and arresting visually. Only a truly great director could pull all of this off, and Schaffner was that man.
Another really great and exciting aspect of Papillon is its gay character, played by Robert Deman (Savage Soldier (1971)), whom Papillon utilizes for an escape and brings along. It is a textured and touching role that Deman inhabits with grace and nerve.
Papillon stands as one of the greatest prison escape movies of all time, just below Escape From Alcatraz (1979).
Related review:
Franklin J. Schaffner: The Boys From Brazil (1978), The Last Nazi Command
Watch this long original trailer that includes behind-the-scenes footage
Budget: 13.5 mil. $
Box office: 53.2 mil. $
= Big hit
What do you think of Papillon?
Do you agree that this is Steve McQueen's best performance?
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