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Papillon

1973

Franklin J. Schaffner

Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon ...

7.7

24,140

Adventure. Drama Based on the true story of Henri Charriere, also known as Papillon, which is French for 'butterfly' (the character even sports a large tattoo of a butterfly. A petty criminal, Papillon is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony in 'Guiane' (French Guiana, South America). Papillon is determined to escape but attempt after attempt meets with difficulty, resulting in eventual recapture. He continues his ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"A big, brave, stouthearted, sometimes romantic, sometimes silly melodrama with the kind of visual sweep you don't often find in movies anymore."	POS
United Kingdom	Chris Petit Time Out	"[It] begins atmospherically with the heat and deprivation well conveyed. But with Schaffner unable to find the necessary perspective to prevent the film from becoming unevenly episodic.	NEU
United States	Richard Schickel Time	"McQueen works hard and almost manages to triumph over his star presence (...) Audiences whose expectations do not exceed their grasp will find it a much more comfortable vehicle for escape"	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"The script is very good within its limitations, but there is insufficient identification with the main characters (...) The oppressive atmosphere is so absolutely established within the first hour of the film that, in a sense, it has nowhere to go for the rest of the time."	NEU
United Kingdom	Kevin Maher The Times	"The narrative is epic (...) The locations are stunning (...) and the surreal touches (...) add to the sense of a highly original art-movie spectacular (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Don Druker Chicago Reader	"Schaffner has succeeded in making a two-and-a-half-hour film that seems like six."	NEG
United States	TV Guide	"A grim, authentically brutal film (...) [It] was produced with consummate technical skill and offers brilliant acting by McQueen and Hoffman."	POS
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"An expensive, exhaustive, 150-minute odyssey that doesn't so much conclude as cross the finish line and collapse (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Ian Nathan Empire	"One of the greatest behind-bars movies ever (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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