''I Escaped from Devil's Island'' is a 1973

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

about an escape attempt from

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islan ...

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

and Gene Corman produced this grim adventure saga which was made to cash in on the release of '' Papillon''.

Plot summary

Prison life on Devil's Island is no picnic so fellow prisoners Le Bras (

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

) and Davert ( Christopher George) escape. Along their escape route, they encounter submissive native women and a colony of lepers.

Cast

as Le Bras * Christopher George as Davert (credited as Chris George) * Richard Ely as Joe "Jo-Jo" (credited as Rick Ely) *

James Luisi James A. Luisi (November 2, 1928 – June 7, 2002) was an American professional basketball player and actor. Luisi is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Doug Chapman, the apoplectic foil to detective Jim Rockford, in a total of 23 episo ...

as Dazzas * Paul Richards as Major Marteau * Richard Rust as Sergeant Zamorra * Bob Harris as The Barber (credited as Roland 'Bob' Harris) * Jan Merlin as Rosenquist * Robert Phillips as Blassier * Stephen Whittaker as Leper Count * Eduardo Rosas López as Sergeant Brescano * Jonathan Dodge as Lieutenant Duplis * Quintín Bulnes as Sergeant Grizzoni * Gabriella Rios as Indian Girl * Ana De Sade as Bedalia

Production

Jim Brown was signed to make the film in December 1972.

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

says that

offered him the chance to direct the film following ''

Boxcar Bertha ''Boxcar Bertha'' is a 1972 American Romance film, romantic crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Roger Corman, from a screenplay by Joyce Hooper Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington and John William Corrington. Made on a low b ...

''. "The idea was if you shoot it fast enough, you could release the film before ''Papillon''," he said. "I was still very keen on genre films." However Scorsese decided to make '' Mean Streets'' instead. He says he had been talked out of doing exploitation films by his friend and colleague

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self- ...

who urged Scorsese to make something more personal. (Corman also offered Scorsese '' The Arena'' and the director turned that down as well.) William Witney directed instead. Filming started in April 1973 in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

. During filming, Witney's wife died of throat cancer. The producers of the similar film '' Papillon'' (1973) sued for copyright infringement but were unsuccessful.Christopher T Koetting, ''Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures'', Hemlock Books. 2009 p 58

Reception

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

was an admirer of the film with a script that is "both entertaining and rather complex" and lead characters that "are refreshingly complicated and three dimensional" and a fresh "exploration of the societal dynamics of the community that the island prisoners exist in" in particular The Fancy Boys who "aren’t presented the way the queer population is usually depicted in novels about Alcatraz or other prison-set seventies adventures... heyhold their own respected status inside of the island convict community without degradation. They’re respected both as individuals and as the group they represent. And are coveted objects of desire among the convict population."

Video Release

Shout Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released ''I Escaped from Devil's Island'' on DVD and Blu-ray on July 15, 2014.

References

External links

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Review of film
at

Joe Dante Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with Counterculture of th ...

{{Roger Corman 1973 films 1973 action films American action films 1970s exploitation films Films directed by William Witney Films produced by Gene Corman Films scored by Les Baxter Films set in 1916 Films set on Devil's Island United Artists films 1970s prison films Films produced by Roger Corman 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language action films English-language crime films