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The Worst Film Ever

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Excellent adaptation.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Saturday afternoon at Arte Palacio Theatre in 1980,l and my old brother Pedro which is already like myself a movie fan,actually invited me since if l had to pay the tickets to see "Papillon" he had heard wonders about this picture,so we had a good time together which we never forget...now l've finally get my brand new Blu-ray from this remarkable movie...see all those wonderful images in high definition is beyond that l'd never imagined,the stunning performance for two leading roles Macqueen and Hoffman whose deserves an Oscar for both...Papillon and Dega...the arrival...the escape...the cell...the new escape...meeting the lepers....the easy life on shore...the betray on convent...meeting Dega again....the final escape...this timeless picture thriller me when start on Blu-ray...an experience of felling just a couple times in Ben Hur and Planet of the Apes...fantastic really!! Resume: First watch: 1980 / How many: 7 / Source: Theatre-TV-DVD-Blu-ray / Rating: 10

'Papillon' is an entertaining prison escape drama with a great script and some terrific acting performances. For its time, 'Papillon' is a very well made and brilliantly shot film. It does a great job at blending various themes and elements, from pulsating tension and drama to some amusing moments.Of course, any prison film is certain to draw comparisons with the Shawshank, a film that is and always will be one of the greatest films ever made, and hands down the best in the prison genre. However, 'Papillon' is certainly a film I will remember due to its highly enjoyable plot and equally great cast. Recommended.

I am glad that i read the book first. This movie has not covered most of the major parts of the book. And many changes are made to the original story, i guess to adapt to the cast availability.Of course, I agree , no movie can be better than the book. But overall, as a movie it does justice to the story. The part where the Papillon lives with the Indians could have been made more interesting. It helped me give a life to my imagination. Many scenes that i have imagines while reading the book, i could relate to them after watching the movie. Very good acting by the lead characters. Kriti

Papillon is a story of what men will do in a time of crisis, such as being in a rather hellish penal prison colony run by the French on one of their islands. Steve McQueen was probably the only actor that I can think of from the period who could portray this character, at least if this had to be done the Hollywood way (of course the man was French, Henri Carriere, so this goes without saying not counting French actors; perhaps Belmondo could've pulled it off, who knows). But there's so much that happens in his story, spanning many years (seemingly decades, though it's never completely clear), that I kept finding myself thinking 'Ok, oh wow, what happens next?"' It actually isn't entirely a prison movie, it should be noted; the last hour mostly takes place when Papillon, his friend Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) and another prisoner find a way to get off of the island by boat. But I think the parts of the film I will remember for, well, forever, will be the scenes set in at the prison, and even those early scenes where the filmmaker, Franklin J Schaffner (via writers Trumbo and Semple), simply shows what the situation is: all these men put together, most if not all of them have done something likely prison-worthy, but for this place, this setting, an entire ocean away from their homeland is the thing. Indeed an early scene on the ship that takes the prisoners across the sea, and when Papillon first gets into trouble (one of those middle-of-the-night attack things) is just a small sample of what horrors await him.What Papillon and Dega have done does count, up to a point - these men are a safe-cracker who got a falsely accused murder rap and a counterfeiter respectively - and the actors make them vulnerable and just interesting to watch. So that by the time these men are having to watch all the time to not end up on a s***-list, it gets tense. And yet, it being Papillon as played by Steve frigging McQueen, the star of The Great Escape, we might hope that he has one goal: to get the hell out. But there's no special motorcycle to do a jump over in this case. When this character gets caught, he has to do more time - in solitary - which is around a 15-20 minute chunk in the middle of this film.I should be clear on this point: if you've seen certain scenes set in solitary confinement in other movies, this is one of the most brutal to watch if not just right up there (oddly enough perhaps the other McQueen's film Hunger tops it). We see Papillon stuck in a cell for what feels like a while - and it ends up being two years (!) - and the whole purpose, as he is told by the main prison warden, is to break him from mind to body, from head to toe. And one sees McQueen, giving it his all as an actor, becoming unhinged at a lot of points, eating bugs, having dream-hallucinations of his past in France and with his old friends (and dead fellow prisoners), and it's staggering work. Overall in this film I don't know if I've seen this man give so much for a character; for an actor who was often known for playing quiet, stoic types (and he could do it well), here it's more like hanging it all out. Which, when playing up against someone like Dustin Hoffman, it's a good idea not to be sleepwalking in a role.Papillon puts so many stakes for its characters, and yet what sets it apart from other prison-break-out movies are two things mainly: how bleak and unrelenting the pressure and suspense is, that at any minute everything can very feasibly fall apart (as the writing and direction make clear, this is a painfully realistic world, or a realistically painful one, same thing), and the location. It's beautiful in the jungles and beaches, but a lot of things can kill you (or people, like the lepers). The only real flaw for me is when the movie slows down just at point of the second to third act when Papillon winds up with the natives on the beach. There's no dialog, which is a nice experiment, but it drags the story down: up until then things have been epic in scope, but the pace is fast and it's all down to the story. If anything drags it, it's this unnecessary sequence.But by the ending, and it's really in the last 15/20 minutes that this tale gains some awesome pathos while still being a tough 'guy' movie, you see what this journey has done for these two men. The characters are built up so well enough, and portrayed with enough grit and honesty, that we care every step of the way (Hoffman really sells the nebbishness, but taking it from caricature to realism). Oh, and Jerry Goldsmith's score, which isn't constant but has enough for you to notice it, is a triumph of adventure/action/drama music for a movie of this kind.