Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton) directs this true story of Henri Charriere (better known as "Papillon" or "the butterfly"), a prisoner so determined to escape the notorious Devil's Island, he attempted it multiple times until he reached old age. Steve McQueen plays Charriere, and Dustin Hoffman is very good as the hero's anxious, defenseless friend. Based on Charriere's own memoir and uncompromisingly adapted by screenwriters Dalton Trumbo (Johnny Got His Gun) and Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Three Days of the Condor), the film is tough going (it is set, after all, on Devil's Island) but not gratuitously violent. There are sequences that stay with one for a long time, such as Papillon's brief stay at a leper colony and the long periods of starvation and solitary confinement he endures after each attempted flight. --Tom Keogh
(15 votes)
2.
Papillon, a prisoner relegated to the squalid confines of a notorious South American penitentiary, maintains he's innocent of the crime for which he's doing time: murder. His cell-mate, Dega, however, is a counterfeiter whose guilt is unquestionable. Though he's a civilized business-type, Dega is easily vitiated by the depraved mores of prison life.
As the interned continue to be treated shamefully and subjected to several cruel and unusual punishments, Papillon grows weary of the mistreatment. Misery leads him to attempt a breakout despite the consequences of possible failure. After several unsuccessful endeavors, Papillon finally manages to break out, but not before he's been through hell and back.
(15 votes)
3.
They called him Papillon, meaning "butterfly." If only he had wings to go with the name. Unable to fly, Henri Charriere virtually willed himself free. He persisted until he did the impossible: escape Devil's Island.
Based on Charriere's bestseller and shot in Spain and Jamaica, Franklin J. Schaffner's film of Papillon united two stars at key career junctions. After a decade of fine work in The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles and Bullitt, Steve McQueen found in Charriere another ideal tough guy role. Coming off The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and Little Big Man, Dustin Hoffman again distinguished himself as Dega, Charriere's scruffy friend.
(15 votes)
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