Papillon

I can tell you the exact moment I went from liking PAPILLON to loving it.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is doing the things a score is supposed to do: underlining and enriching the story unfolding onscreen. Then there's this scene, a chase scene, in a forbidding jungle. Goldsmith goes absolutely bananas, giving us a postmodernist piece that sounded more like it came from the pen of Donald Erb than a mainstream film composer. The music is absolutely effective, it takes the viewer completely by surprise, and it's indicative of the skill and care that went into every facet of this picture.

PAPILLON is a long film, clocking in at 2.5 hours, but it races by. Not a moment onscreen feels wasted, and it strikes a wonderful balance between action sequences and character moments. What a great movie!