It could very well be. I read the book the movie as based on and it was written by Henri Charriere AKA Papilon. He could have very well made up a lot of his story. He might have never been imprisoned on Devil’s Island. I also read his follow up book Banco.
I always assumed it was a creative and entertaining ripoff of The Count of Montecristo.
Favorite 5 non POW prison movies.
- Cool Hand Luke
- Shawshank Redemption
- Papillon
- Escape From Alcatraz
- Green Mile
ETA: 6. Midnight Express
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I’ll go with 1-3-4 in that order.
I only saw Birdman of Alcatraz once, on network TV when I may or may not have reached puberty, but I liked it a lot. Also, the best POW was probably the Renoir.
How can you not like Shawshank?
Birdman of Alcatraz, I forgot about that one. I remember seeing it back in the day when NBC had Saturday Night at the Movies. Shit, that must have been 60 years ago. Burt Lancaster was always great.
Should Stir Crazy get an honorable mention?
As far as prison comedies go sure, as well as the Burt version of The Longest Yard.
Renoir is great. Victory is greatest.
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I haven’t seen those, I’ll check them out. My favorite is POW movie is Stalag 17.
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RIP Dolphins season.
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Le Grande Illusion is the film by Renoir.
Man, Stalag 17 is another one I have to go back and rewatch. I need to add that to my list.
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One of my college classmates served Michael Caine at the Pappadeaux’s in Austin.
He kept his cool until bringing him the check and blurted out “Mr Caine you were wonderful in Victory.”
Caine smiled and said something like “thank you, one of my lesser known works.”
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Oh yeah, I have seen that, in the theater when it came out in 81.
If he’d had any balls he would have told Caine that he was great in Jaws: The Revenge.
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“I’ve never seen that movie, but I’ve seen the house that it bought”
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Stalag 17 is one of my favorite movies of all time. I was in my 20’s when I found out it was based on a Broadway play (which diminished my love of the film not at all).
It takes place in a concentration camp, so not quite a prison or POW film, but “The Counterfeiters” is fantastic. It’s a fictionalized account of Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation ever attempted (by the Nazis, no less). Highly recommend tracking it down if anyone hasn’t seen it yet.
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I really enjoyed watching him play.
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