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The movie
opens with bound Papillon (Steve McQueen) being led to a ship
along with several other convicts. All of these men are being
shipped to French Guiana as part of their punishment for serious
misdeeds. On the ship Papillon encounters Louis Dega (Dustin
Hoffman), a notorious counterfeiter who amassed a small fortune
some of which he has hidden on his self in a very secure area.
Papillon sees an opportunity and offers Dega protection during
the voyage. Dega soon learns that protection would be a wise
investment, and forms an oral contract with Papillon. Dega
agrees to provide financial aid to Papillon for escape from
the French Guiana prison complex. Part of the prison area
is the dreaded Devil's Island, although Papillon begins his
internment on the mainland. Upon their arrival at the prison
the penalties for a failed escape are made clear, but Papillon
is undeterred. But he might soon learn the error of his ways.
The film
runs nearly two and a half hours, so make sure you're sitting
on a comfortable piece of furniture when you begin watching.
The story slows down toward the end. This kind of pacing is
normally deadly for a film. Usually slow parts of a film will
be concentrated toward the beginning, when viewers have more
patience. Director Franklin Schaffner (Patton) made this mistake
with his previous film, Nicholas and Alexandra, where he dragged
out an ending when most viewers already knew how the film
would end. But I cared enough about Papillon that my interest
continued, even during a surreal beach sequence that contains
no dialogue and little action. In fact that beach sequence
is a nice change of pace from the claustrophobic nature of
the prison scenes, as are the dream sequences.
I was troubled
by the depiction of Papillon as a saint. Even if he did not
commit the murder, he was still a thief. But this Papillon
probably would have won the Congressional Medal of Honor if
he were a soldier instead of a prisoner. Undoubtedly the producers
of the film knew that the story would captivate audiences
less if the Papillon character were a scumbag. This whole
"innocent victim of the judicial system" idea has now become
a clichÄ as it turns up frequently on film, even in a purportedly
great film like The Shawshank Redemption. Steve McQueen was
one of the best tough guys ever to grace the screen. His screen
presence is undeniable, despite his small stature (not unlike
Humphrey Bogart). John Wayne could dominate simply because
he towered over most of his costars. But McQueen had to rely
on grittiness. Critics would argue that one characteristic
McQueen shared with Wayne was the penchant for playing the
same character over and over because of limited acting range.
But McQueen plays the Papillon character as well as anyone
else, especially considering alternate choices like Burt Reynolds
or Clint Eastwood (although Eastwood would later do a good
job in Escape from Alcatraz).
Papillon
is allegedly a true story. I say allegedly because there is
no way to confirm that these events actually happened. The
real life Papillon wrote a book entailing his adventures,
and evidently he also served as an advisor as the film was
being shot. But his experiences in French Guiana are too spectacular
to be believed, which is the glaring weakness of the story.
I would have guessed that veteran screenwriter Dalton Trumbo
punched up the sensational aspects of the story, but supposedly
the book is similarly lacking in believability. Papillon contains
elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark (believe it or not) and
Midnight Express, although keep in mind it was a precursor
to both films. As excessive as Midnight Express is, its "true
story" is much more believable than Papillon's cloak of veracity.
This is the full-length version of Papillon, as far as I can
tell. A 132 minute version was also released. The film could
easily have been longer, as the audience is left to imagine
what Papillon's trial was like and whether he was framed or
guilty of the murder.
In the
"huh?" department, Papillon is rated PG. I am very liberal-minded
regarding movie content, so you should take the following
warning seriously: Papillon is not for kids, and if this movie
was released in today's climate it would probably receive
an R rating.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Papillon
is a release that is worthy of the DVD format. The anamorphic
image provides excellent detail, though note that the packaging
does not indicate this, which is a surprising omisson. But,
colors surely did not look much better than this when Papillon
was originally released in the theater. The prison settings
are drab, but the green jungle vegetation is pleasing, and
reds do not exhibit fading. Scratches and other age blemishes
mar the image occasionally, but they are few and far between.
The only significant problem with the transfer is the shimmering
of the prison bars in a number of scenes.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
This is
the type of film that I expected to only be in stereo or even
mono. But instead Warner delivers a 5.1 mix. The IMDb does
list the sound as 4-track stereo, and that equates with the
sound on the DVD, which has more in common with 2.0 surround
tracks than a modern 5.1 mix. I did not notice split surround
effects, but the rears are employed well enough for ambience
and the Jerry Goldsmith score. Dynamic range is solid but
never spectacular, with conservative use of bass. Dialogue
is predominantly intelligible although it could sound better.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? A 12-minute
featurette called The Magnificent Rebel provides a
little background information on the making of Papillon, but
its more notable for showing the real Henri Charriere than
anything else. Warner made a mistake on this featurette, however,
by anamorphically enhancing it without consideration for standard
televisions. If you watch it on a 4:3 set the people will
appear to be too skinny and squished, but in my opinion this
featurette is too inconsequential to call this a major setback
in the end.
There is
also a cast and crew list, though the only bio information
is for director Franklin Schaffner. Finally, a 1.85:1 theatrical
trailer is presented with decent picture quality, although
not near the quality of the actual feature.
Parting Thoughts
Fans of
Steve McQueen or even Dustin Hoffman should definitely give
Papillon a whirl in their player. The trailer refers to it
as "the greatest adventure of escape ever filmed." That is
high praise, but I will refer my praise to Warner for this
quality release at an attractive price.
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