An entertaining adventure, but Papillon is hardly a film for the ages. From his shoddy ability to show the passage of time to a couple wretched dream sequences, Schaffner makes questionable choices that keep his film from feeling accomplished. Above all, the runtime's insanely bloated. I'm sure the film could go without any number of things like a montage of Steve McQueen cavorting with an island girl.
The fact that this is regarded as McQueen's best performance suggests what an oxymoron that is. He and Dustin Hoffman are believable buddies, but neither is strong here. Lovely, varied photographed and Jerry Goldsmith's score are the strongest assets. I'm frankly surprised Goldsmith managed an Oscar nomination, even though his score is magical, since it's not in use for the vast majority of the film.
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