Papillon (1973)

[mike siegel]

Le 'vrai' Papillon avec le Papillon Cinema:

[Tucumcari Bound]

Le 'vrai' Papillon avec le Papillon Cinema:

Great picture there mike siegel. Thank you for posting.

[Noodles_SlowStir]

Looks like this remake is really going to happen.  I found an article in the The Guardian UK that talks more about the Canary Islands as a shooting location, but has a little bit of info on the production of the remake.  Seems Branko Lustig (Schindler's List, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster) will produce.  I wonder if by association.... that means Ridley Scott as director.  They mention as tentative leads Robert Downey Jr and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/aug/19/spain?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

So many unadapted stories and novels out there.  Wish they'd try to create new classics....

[Tucumcari Bound]

Looks like this remake is really going to happen.  I found an article in the The Guardian UK that talks more about the Canary Islands as a shooting location, but has a little bit of info on the production of the remake.  Seems Branko Lustig (Schindler's List, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster) will produce.  I wonder if by association.... that means Ridley Scott as director.  They mention as tentative leads Robert Downey Jr and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/aug/19/spain?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

So many unadapted stories and novels out there.  Wish they'd try to create new classics....

This upsets me greatly. There's just not need to remake this great film. If Ridley Scott takes a poke at directing the remake, I may give it a chance. We shall see.

[titoli]

Papillon (1973) Strange how McQueen towers over Hoffman. I think the latter was miscast. Great adventure movie though, makes me wanna read the novel again. I saw it when first released, then on tv and now on my home big screen. The dream sequences are superfluous though. 8\10 

[titoli]

Siegel, are you sure the man with mcqueen is Charriere?

[dave jenkins]

Region A Blu-ray announced for 24 May.

[dave jenkins]

Papillon (1973) - 8/10. A great tale indifferently told, and the new Blu-ray reveals many of the production' s imperfections. The bad make-up work and over-reliance on sets makes the film, at times, look cheap (there are other times, though, for example on the cliffs of Devil's Island, when the film looks like 50 million bucks). Adding to the tackiness is some of the casting of small roles: they couldn't find an Indian to play the Indian chief, they had to use Victor Jory? And when Val Avery showed up as the guy selling the rotten rowboat, I had to check to make sure the scene wasn't being shot on the Universal backlot (it wasn't, it just looked like it). Another problem is with McQueen's performance: he's perfect when he's being natural, but when he's supposed to be ill or old (or both at the same time) it's quite obvious that he's putting on. Still, the nature of the story, one of dogged determination over years of failures and setback, is so compelling that all the limitations of the filmmaking are overcome. Story is (almost) everything.

[drinkanddestroy]

Papillon (1973) - 8/10. A great tale indifferently told, and the new Blu-ray reveals many of the production' s imperfections. The bad make-up work and over-reliance on sets makes the film, at times, look cheap (there are other times, though, for example on the cliffs of Devil's Island, when the film looks like 50 million bucks). Adding to the tackiness is some of the casting of small roles: they couldn't find an Indian to play the Indian chief, they had to use Victor Jory? And when Val Avery showed up as the guy selling the rotten rowboat, I had to check to make sure the scene wasn't being shot on the Universal backlot (it wasn't, it just looked like it). Another problem is with McQueen's performance: he's perfect when he's being natural, but when he's supposed to be ill or old (or both at the same time) it's quite obvious that he's putting on. Still, the nature of the story, one of dogged determination over years of failures and setback, is so compelling that all the limitations of the filmmaking are overcome. Story is (almost) everything.

are you one of those who think it went on a bit too long (eg. the scenes when Papillon was in solitary confinement), or one of those who think that was necessary to really make you feel Papillon's ordeal? (I remember in his review Roger Ebert wrote something like "When he finally gets off the island you are happy not for him, but for yourself, so that you can go home."  )

[dave jenkins]

I think the film is the right length. We go through solitary the first time with McQueen, necessarily so, to be able to come fully to grips with the experience, but the second time (after the nuns turn him in) there is a cut that skips over the five-year period. Schaffner knew exactly what he was doing. On the matters of story, pacing, editing and length I find absolutely nothing to complain about.

[drinkanddestroy]

I think the film is the right length. We go through solitary the first time with McQueen, necessarily so, to be able to come fully to grips with the experience, but the second time (after the nuns turn him in) there is a cut that skips over the five-year period. Schaffner knew exactly what he was doing. On the matters of story, pacing, editing and length I find absolutely nothing to complain about.

yeah overall I liked the  film. I think McQueen -- one of my all-time favorite actors -- was more versatile than some may give him credit for.
It's a bloody shame he was taken from us that young