do anyone remember the name of the medic who escape over the wall with papillon and dega be it maturette . in any case and he may mark the first time hollywood create a gay character at least in a big budget film who be sympathetic and not stereotypical or ridiculous or treacherous and and be give his fair share of personal dignity . first and papillon want to prostitute him to distract a guard so that he can escape represent he let papillon know in no uncertain term that he not a whore and that between the two of u and i be the one who kill a man . later and he show bravery and solidarity and and resourcefulness equal to the two lead . it a fairly large role and the actor make a strong impression and yet ( almost a important ) the filmmaker do not showcase him in a self congratulatory way ( look how progressive we be . ) . he not offset by any more typical gay character to lessen his impact and nor and thankfully and by one of those ritual gang rape of the male lead scene that seem to be obligatory in prison picture ( e. g. and the shawshank redemption ) . this be all especially remarkable in that hollywood movie at the time be still rife with abysmal gay stereotype ( see play misty for me and the eiger sanction and the producer and any number of others in all kind of genre . ) i would love to know if this be a conscious decision by schaffner or the screenwriter ( trumbo and semple both have good progressive credential and after all ) . by the way and if youre go to see this film and see it letterboxed it lose much of it visual impact in a standard tv pan and scan format .