Papillon

Franklin J. Schaffner was on a hot streak in the late 60's and early 70's when he decided to make the prison film Papillon. Planet of the Apes and Patton had established him as a commercially viable director with a flair for showing off his lead actors. It seemed only natural he get one of the biggest stars of all time, Steve McQueen, and agruably the best actor of the time, Dustin Hoffman, together for film.

McQueen plays the title character who has been wrongfully convicted of killing a pimp (I thought that was doing a good thing). The French government decided to send him across the sea with hundreds of other prisoners to work camps in French Guinea. Along the way, Papillon meets Louis Dega (Hoffman) who has been convicted of a white collar crime. Dega has money and Papillon soon work out a deal for protection. Papillion needs the money to try and escape his new prison once they get ashore.

The film turns into a story of friendship over many years and more than a few prison breaks. Dega settles in to a cushy job working for the warden, but Papillon is hell bent on his freedom. Schaffner does a masterful job of direction with the shots. The sets are impeccable and you actually feel a little uncomfortable in the heat of the locations. Both of the leads are quite good in their own different ways. McQueen could do this role in his sleep, yet manages a little extra especially in the second half of the film. Hoffman does his thing with the character of Dega with a whiny voice and Coke bottle glasses. All of the elements come together well with just a little bit of pacing issues towards the end. Overall a very worthy watch.

80/100

Lenny

Lenny is the story of the life and times of Lenny Bruce. Bruce is famously known for fighting against the idea of obscenity and what a performer can say on stage. Veteran director Bob Fosse seems an odd choice to direct this project considering his reputation was built on musicals. Expect black and white, lots of nudity, and an incredible of amount of music to drive the story forward.

The films actually looks phenomenal in b & w with each shot perfectly framing what is on screen. Fosse clearly knows how to get the look of a film, but can he make this a complete movie? The answer to that would be more or less yes he can.

The first half of the film chronicles the early years between Lenny (Dustin Hoffman) and he eventual wife Honey (Valerie Perrine). It jumps back and forth between a faux documentary featuring interviews of Lenny's inner circle and what was going on in his life. I'm not a fan of that style of storytelling, but it all seems to work without slowing down the film. Lenny takes a little while to get rolling, but it seems to find it's legs after Honey is jailed for possesion. Bruce is forced to take care of their daughter while trying to make ends meet emceeing at a strip club. A club owner sees him and his brand of humer and wants to make him a regular as a comedian.

His career begins to snowball until he starts getting noticed for all the wrong reasons. At that time in history, performers didn't use dirty language on stage. Bruce is using it to try and change the way people thought about the words themselves and was trying to make a point. Bruce was gifted with the way he was able to turn a phrase or idea around and present it in a new way. The film does delve into his performances with them interwoven into the second half.

Lenny ultimately works because of Dustin Hoffman. He is such the mannered actor who completely loses himself in the character. A lot of times you are still cognizant of who the actor is, but here you find yourself caught up in who Bruce really was and what he wanted. Fosse is very capable with the camera. You have to be able to appreciate the Fosse-style, which might strike some people as annoying. The first half drags a bit, but stick with it.

* Lenny ended up losing best picture at the 1975 Oscars to The Godfather pt. 2, but look at what else was nominated: Roman Polanski's Chinatown, Irwin Winkler's The Towering Inferno, and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation! Dustin Hoffman not only got beat out by Art Carney, but was up against Al Pacino, Albert Finney, and Jack Nicholson! You don't seen that kind of competition at the Academy Awards anymore.

80/100