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Papillon
Directed by
Franklin J. Schaffner
PG
1973
2h 31m
Drama
,
Crime
,
and more
8.0
73%
90%
Add to Watchlist
A French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
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Where to Watch Papillon
Fandango at Home Free
Free
Kanopy
Free
Tubi TV
Free
+6 more
Cast of Papillon
Steve McQueen
Henri "Papillon" Charriere
Dustin Hoffman
Louis Dega
Victor Jory
Indian Chief
Don Gordon
Julot
Anthony Zerbe
Toussaint
Robert Deman
Maturette
Woodrow Parfrey
Clusiot
Bill Mumy
Lariot
George Coulouris
Dr. Chatal
Ratna Assan
Zoraima
William Smithers
Warden Barrot
Val Avery
Pascal
Gregory Sierra
Antonio
Vic Tayback
Sergeant
Mills Watson
Guard
Ron Soble
Santini
Barbara Morrison
Mother Superior
Don Hanmer
Butterfly Trader
E.J. André
Old Con
Richard Angarola
Commandant
Jack Denbo
Classification Officer
Len Lesser
Guard
John Quade
Masked Breton
Fred Sadoff
Deputy Warden
Allen Jaffe
Turnkey
Liam Dunn
Old Trustee
Anne Byrne Hoffman
Mrs. Dega (uncredited)
Dalton Trumbo
Commandant (uncredited) / Writer
Richard Farnsworth
Manhunter (uncredited)
Peter Brocco
Doctor (uncredited)
Franklin J. Schaffner
Director / Producer
Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Writer
Henri Charrière
Writer
Robert Dorfmann
Producer
Papillon Ratings & Reviews
leppermesiah
December 11, 2024
The best movie i have watched. Left me trembling and shivering with emotions.
Spanktacular
May 18, 2025
Such elegant spiritual and existential despair.
Aladdin
March 26, 2025
A tale about friendship, great human adventure...
Newsweek
Paul D. Zimmerman
It is a tournament of brutality unrelieved by imagination.
New York Magazine/Vulture
Judith Crist
It drags on for two-and-a-half hours... to show us that the talents of even Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen can be buried under endless restatement of the obvious and that the best of adventure stories can be attenuated into boredom.
Esquire Magazine
John Simon
The film offers such a spectrum of good and evil solutions to the general misery that it often transcends the genre of prison melodrama and becomes an existential statement.
Los Angeles Free Press
Dick Lochte
Papillon is too lifeless, too long and too late.
Common Sense Media
Barbara Shulgasser
Classic prison-escape movie has intense peril, violence.
TIME Magazine
Richard Schickel
McQueen works hard and al most manages to triumph over his star presence, while Hoffman submerges himself eccentrically and amusingly in his coward's role.
Chicago Reader
Don Druker
Director Franklin J. Schaffner has succeeded in making a two-and-a-half-hour film that seems like six.
TV Guide
Schaffner, who expertly captured the gritty story of Patton, does not flinch from showing every conceivable horror of the French penal system.
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
This consummate prison-break epic features Steve McQueen's greatest transformation of character creation over the course of his estimable film career.
Movie Metropolis
John J. Puccio
The narrative unfolds slowly, but the two stars are compelling and cinematographer Fred Koenekamp's photography is striking.
Variety
Variety Staff
The script is very good within its limitations, but there is insufficient identification with the main characters.
Denver Post
Michael Booth
A rousing drama of endurance, opportunism and friendship under fire.
EmanuelLevy.Com
Emanuel Levy
Based on the memoirs of Henri Charriere, the only man to have successfully escaped from Devil's Island, this is a grim and brutal prison drama, made more likable due to the lead star performances.
New York Times
Vincent Canby
A big, brave, stouthearted, sometimes romantic, sometimes silly melodrama with the kind of visual sweep you don't often find in movies anymore.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
An expensive, exhaustive, 150-mintue odyssey that doesn't so much conclude as cross the finish line and collapse.
eFilmCritic.com
Brian Mckay
Awesome jailbreak film with gritty performances.
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