watch papillon today it occur to me that the film it most resembles be birdman of alcatraz . both steve mcqueen and burt lancaster be send to prison for murder conviction although allegedly mcqueen be innocent . both be base on true character who write and in the case of lancaster ghost write and their own memoir of their time in the joint and the film be base on those book . and certainly both men be rebel spirit . in lancaster case it an internal rebellion against the rule of the penal system . of course in the work he do develop those bird remedy and he rehabilitate himself in a way that the system do not understand . but in the case of henri charriere aka papillon for the butterfly tattoo on his chest and he just want out of the penal colony at devil island and make many attempt to get shed of the place . the film be about his many attempt and his refusal to quit no matter what be do to break him . devil island in the thirty be not any good than it be when alfred dreyfus be do his time in the tropical prison . still mcqueen be resourceful enough a you will see . mcqueen though he far from french have the rebel persona that really fit this part . have he be young and this be a french production i could have see jean gabin in the role . it one of mcqueen best role and he hold your interest throughout this nearly three hour film . lead an impressive supporting cast be dustin hoffman who play what we would now call a white collar criminal . he become a devoted acolyte of mcqueen see he go to need friend himself if he to survive devil island . he also want to escape in the bad possible way . later on we see hoffman in a different light a if complete the birdman of alcatraz analogy and hoffman role be similar to that of telly savalas who a tough character when we first meet him in birdman and but later becomes acclimate to prison life . hoffman have work himself into a nice situation relatively speak on the island and have resign himself that this be his home for good or bad . it a very good performance by hoffman a his character change during the film . i would really recommend see both birdman of alcatraz and papillon back to back . it a good prison doubleheader for a rainy afternoon .