MovieChat Forums > Papillon (1973) Discussion > Most Memorable Scenes (crocodile and lep...

Most Memorable Scenes (crocodile and leper)

posted 14 years ago by Edward_de_Vere
13 replies | jump to latest

I first watched this movie as a kid, and two images stuck with me ever since and remain my favorite scenes in the film. The first is the scene in the leper colony where a boil-encrusted leper offers McQueen a puff on his cigar, which he is forced to accept in return for the leper's assistance in escape.

The second was the scene where Hoffman and McQueen are sent into the swamp to the retrieve a wounded, but very much alive crocodile.

Both episodes were dark humor at its best.

[–] bullit2513 14 years ago

Papillon really has so many memorable scenes it is hard to just pick one. The first has to be the first solitary confinement. If anyone ever thought McQueen couldn't act, watch that scene. The two dream sequences also come to mind because it's hard to get them out of your head. And third, the chase sequence late in the movie with no dialogue. The finale where Antonio gets impaled on the booby trap still makes me jump when I see it even knowing it's coming.

"Congratulations, Major. It appears that at last you have found yourself a real war." Ben Tyreen

[–] rasheed_node 12 years ago

Degas' wall climbing! Every time I watch it, I quiver in my sofa chair!

"Blame is for God and small children!" Luise Degas

[–] kustom135 14 years ago

"Your FIVE YEARS IN SOLITARY are over."

Five years in a concrete room the size of a front porch. Think about it.

[–] sonofbeach-sheet 12 years ago

And exactly how does that make all your hair gray. It's not like he was stressed out or working hard during that time

I know, but all he had to live off of for 5 years was an unpalatable soup or gruel.

BTW, was that crocodile actually shot?

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psdhart 11 years ago

Can't beat the solitary confinement scenes

me too

[–] Prismark10 11 years ago

They could had at least given him a baseball.

Its that man again!!

[–] sillyspaghetti 11 years ago

Saw this years and years ago. I'll never forget the scene with the lepers. It moved me because of their plight. It also scared me, not so much due to the look of the lepers, but more that they'd suffered this terrible disease.

[–] Ed in MO 10 years ago

"How did you know I had dry leprosy and that it wasn't contagious?"

"I didn't."

The most unforgettable scene for me.

[–] mpq 9 years ago

This movie really made an impression on me when I saw it as a teenager.It was just so intense,so many memorable scenes,just burned into my memory.I used to see lots of movies back then and this one has stayed stayed with me.It just got me.Maybe it was the mood I was in that particular day,maybe it was the company,I was with-- my best pal---
I never thought of it till now but later in our teen years my friend developed a thing for butterflies,she gave me a necklace with a butterfly on it for my 17th birthday.Maybe it was just a coincidence but I know that movie made an impression on her too.
So many great scenes---that scene with the leper stayed with me,I loved it when they were chasing butterflies,those scenes on the prison grounds with the guards were intense.It was all so intense!

[–] ameckert2000 8 years ago

You might not ever read this, as you posted this years ago, but I had to laugh when I saw this, because I had the same thought when they put him in solitary! I thought "At least the Cooler King had a freaking baseball (and I think a glove?)".

[–] MoviemanCin 8 years ago

They're all great, but perhaps the best is the Leper scene.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

[–] liscarkat (17811) 2 years ago

When they're dragging the screaming guy to the guillotine. Still gives me the shivers just thinking about it.