Papillon (1973)

Papillon
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Written by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr. from a book by Henri Charriere
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Dega: Blame is for God and small children.

Steve McQueen is at his very best in this story of desperate men on a desperate quest to escape Devil’s Island.

The story is a semi-fictional account of Henri ‘Papillon’ Charriere’s (McQueen) time in the French Penal Colony of Guyana between 1931 and 1945.  Charriere earned the nickname from the butterfly prominently tattooed on his chest.  Charriere had been falsely convicted of murdering a pimp and sentenced to life at hard labor. Prior to this, he had earned a reputation as a safe-cracker.  On the sea journey to the island Charriere forms what turns out to be an enduring friendship with Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a timid myopic counterfeiter.  The two could not be more different but with Louis’s money and Papillon’s guts they make a good team.

Life is extremely hard in French Guyana.  The place is hot, disease-ridden, and filthy; the men are hardly fed; the labor is very hard; and the guards are cruel.  The prisoners are treated like scum that cannot be punished severely enough.  A first escape attempt is punishable by two years in solitary confinement, the second by five years.  99.9% of all escapees are caught and punished.

The story tracks a couple of different escape attempts and Papillon’s years in solitary confinement.  Food is so scarce that he resorts to capturing insects to survive.  In the meantime, Dega has bribed his way into a desk job.  He attempts to assist by smuggling in fresh coconut.  When this is discovered, Papillon is put on half-rations and nearly dies.

After his final stint in solitary, Papillon and Dega ask to be sent to the most isolated offshore island.  There they cobble together houses and start farming.  But Papillon is one stubborn man.  With a fine cast of supporting players including Victor Jory, Anthony Zerbe, and George Colouris.

I’ve seen this a time or two over the years and must have zoned out each time since I remember almost none of it.  That’s funny because I love a good prison escape movie.  This time, however, it hooked me within half an hour and I was engrossed in the story throughout the film’s 2 1/2 hour running time.

I’ve always thought of McQueen as playing his own cool persona but he had to really stretch here and I thought he was pretty wonderful.  Rumor has it McQueen’s Oscar snub resulted from rubbing the wrong studio executives the wrong way.  Hoffman and the rest cast shine as well.  Recommended.

Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for the Oscar for Best Music, Original Score.