Papillon

"A big, brave, stouthearted, sometimes romantic, sometimes silly melodrama with the kind of visual sweep you don't often find in movies anymore." 

"McQueen works hard and almost manages to triumph over his star presence (...) Audiences whose expectations do not exceed their grasp will find it a much more comfortable vehicle for escape" 

"The script is very good within its limitations, but there is insufficient identification with the main characters (...) The oppressive atmosphere is so absolutely established within the first hour of the film that, in a sense, it has nowhere to go for the rest of the time." 

"Schaffner has succeeded in making a two-and-a-half-hour film that seems like six." 

"A grim, authentically brutal film (...) [It] was produced with consummate technical skill and offers brilliant acting by McQueen and Hoffman." 

"An expensive, exhaustive, 150-minute odyssey that doesn't so much conclude as cross the finish line and collapse (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)" 

"[It] begins atmospherically with the heat and deprivation well conveyed. But with Schaffner unable to find the necessary perspective to prevent the film from becoming unevenly episodic.