Papillon
by Franklin J. Schaffner
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Zerbe, Don Gordon, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Victor JoryDirector: Franklin J. Schaffner
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Franklin J. Schaffner
Producer: Robert Dorfmann
Producer: Robert O. Kaplan
Producer: Ted Richmond
Writer: Dalton Trumbo
Writer: Henri Charri?re
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-31
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Papillon
Movie Review: Basically, It Does Justice To The Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually, after reading a long book filled with many interesting adventures, watching a two-hour film later winds up being a big disappointment. There is no way a film can give you anywhere near the info you glean from a book, especially one over 500 pages as is the case with "Papillion."
Yet, despite most of Henri Charriere's incredible feats of survival, ("Papillion" was Charriere's nickname) this 2.5-hour movie is above average. It gives enough of a flavor to have the viewer appreciate - at least to some degree - the brutal trials and tribulations Papillion went through.
If you enjoyed this film, the book is a "must-read" for you and very highly-recommendly. You won't believe all the things Charriere experienced: good and bad.
Steve McQueen, playing "Papillion," was excellent. He was particularly good at showing the physical effects of years of solitary confinement. By the way, in real life, Charriere was much younger went sent to jail than McQueen was at the time this movie was shot. Papillion should have been played by a younger actor, but who's going to complain when you get an actor of McQueen's caliber?
Dustin Hoffman also was great as Papillion's friend, "Louis Dega," who had a bigger role in the movie than he did in the book. For the most part, Papillion had a number of friends, all helping him over the years. Hoffman also provided some good comic relief to the movie and, heaven knows, it needed it. Take it from someone who has read the book: this is a grim story, worse than what you saw on screen here.
Nevertheless, thanks to the two leading actors and the wonderful work by Director Franklin Schaffner and Cinematogher Fred Koenekamp, this long film entertained. No, it wasn't the caliber of the book, but it's didn't insult it, either, and is definitely worth a look.
Summary of Papillon
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 junctures. 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.DVD Features:Other:Vintage Featurette: The Magnificent RebelTheatrical Trailer:
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
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