Review of Papillon (1973) by Stuart K — 17 Jun 2012

Based upon the 1969 autobiography by Henri Charrière, which was an instant international bestseller, this film version of this taut and gritty story was brought to the screen by Franklin J. Schaffner, then hot off winning an Oscar for Patton (1970).

It's a brilliant prison film, set in an unforgiving land and it's star gives the best performance of his career, even acting his co-star off the screen, well and truly. In 1931, Henri 'Papillon' Charrière (Steve McQueen) is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a pimp, which he repeatedly claims he didn't do.

He is sent from France to the prison colony of Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana. En route, he meets and befriends Louis Vega (Dustin Hoffman), who has been sent down for forgery and embezzlement.

Papillon wants to escape, and his first attempt ends with him spending two years in solitary confinement, which nearly kills him after food is smuggled in and Papillon has his rations halved. But, he's not giving up, and no sooner than he's released, he and Louis see another opportunity to escape, but they don't know who to trust.

It's a really gripping escape film, with better methods of escaping a prison than The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Steve McQueen gives his best performance of all, a man with an unbreakable spirit, who refuses to spend his life in an unfair jail.

Hoffman, as good as ever, is an eccentric which is almost a reprise of what he did in Midnight Cowboy, still very good but McQueen is better. Director Schaffner is one of the unsung heroes of cinema in the 1960's and 70's, and this is one of his very best films.