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Papillon (1973)
Papillon (1973)
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Writers: Dalton Trumbo & Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay)
Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Length: 2hours 31minutes
Based on the real Papillon, Henri Charrière who served time at the infamous Devil's Island and latter wrote a novel about it, which he heavily embellished.
Steve McQueen is Papillon, a French man who's sentenced to life imprisonment at French Guyana 'Devils Island'. On the long sea voyager over, he befriends a man Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman). Dege is a forger and carrying a lot of money...and money can be used to buy freedom from corrupt guards.
This has been called the crowning achievement in Steve McQueen's turbulent movie career, it's certainly a tour de force cinema.
Great effort was put into the making of this. Most of the film was shot in the tropics, mainly Jamaica and Venezuela. A huge 800 foot set in Falmouth Jamaica was built, it painstakingly recreated the prison of Devils' Island. Two years was spent on studying the original blue prints of the prison so that it would be authentic. At the end of the film we see the real prison that has long been abandoned to the jungle. The set is near identical to the real thing.
But what rocks, is the stand out performances of two acting legends: Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The director choose to shoot the film in chronically order which is rare in film making. This subsumption creates a stronger reality as the actors move through time in sync with the filming. One caveat, this is not a buddy picture, even though their friendship drives the dynamics of their characters. Nor is this an entertainment film in the same vein as The Great Escape.
What Papillon is...a fine example of film making by professionals who care about their craft. It's stunning to look at. The characters are memorable, as is the story. The direction, editing and scoring are all class acts.
Writers: Dalton Trumbo & Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay)
Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Length: 2hours 31minutes
Based on the real Papillon, Henri Charrière who served time at the infamous Devil's Island and latter wrote a novel about it, which he heavily embellished.
Steve McQueen is Papillon, a French man who's sentenced to life imprisonment at French Guyana 'Devils Island'. On the long sea voyager over, he befriends a man Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman). Dege is a forger and carrying a lot of money...and money can be used to buy freedom from corrupt guards.
This has been called the crowning achievement in Steve McQueen's turbulent movie career, it's certainly a tour de force cinema.
Great effort was put into the making of this. Most of the film was shot in the tropics, mainly Jamaica and Venezuela. A huge 800 foot set in Falmouth Jamaica was built, it painstakingly recreated the prison of Devils' Island. Two years was spent on studying the original blue prints of the prison so that it would be authentic. At the end of the film we see the real prison that has long been abandoned to the jungle. The set is near identical to the real thing.
But what rocks, is the stand out performances of two acting legends: Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The director choose to shoot the film in chronically order which is rare in film making. This subsumption creates a stronger reality as the actors move through time in sync with the filming. One caveat, this is not a buddy picture, even though their friendship drives the dynamics of their characters. Nor is this an entertainment film in the same vein as The Great Escape.
What Papillon is...a fine example of film making by professionals who care about their craft. It's stunning to look at. The characters are memorable, as is the story. The direction, editing and scoring are all class acts.