Papillon is a transitional species. At the same time it soars on old-fashioned virtue, it also suffers from modern vice. Its 150-minute running time, false endings, and mind-numbing repetitions make it an early predecessor of the indulgent blockbuster of today.Working from Henri Charrière's book -- a supposedly true account -- director Franklin J. Schaffner begins the story in France, as a group of prisoners are marched onto an ocean liner that will take them to a brutal penal colony in a remote part of South America. Among the prisoners is Charrière (Steve McQueen), also known as "Papillon," an honorable thief who has been framed for the murder of a pimp.
On the boat, Papillon offers to protect a well-heeled prisoner, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), from the rest of the criminal population. All Dega has to do to ensure his safe passage is underwrite Papillon's escape once they reach French Guyana. Papillon and Dega strike a deal -- as well as an unlikely friendship of opposites. Papillon is a man of action, a safecracker, a physical presence, while Dega is a cunning intellectual, a slight man with coke-bottle glasses.
McQueen and Hoffman are right at home in their roles. McQueen delivers his signature brand of sullen machismo, always leaping into the heart of conflict, with his face creased in a perpetual squint. Hoffman, meanwhile, plays Dega as a frail creature thrust into a violent world. He shambles around the prison colony trying to keep his nose clean and his glasses intact.
When Papillon is ordered to serve two years in solitary confinement after an escape attempt, Dega sends coconuts to Papillon's cell to augment his meager food rations, a grave breach of prison rules. But when guards find out that Papillon has been secretly receiving food, he refuses to finger Dega as the source. This of course incites prison officials to inflict all manner of horrible deprivation on Papillon. Yet, even as he wastes away and his skin turns gray and his teeth fall out, Papillon doggedly refuses to turn on his friend.
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