The Executioner's Song (TV 1982)The story of Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer who lobbied for his own execution. Director:Lawrence Schiller |
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The Executioner's Song (TV 1982)The story of Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer who lobbied for his own execution. Director:Lawrence Schiller |
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Tommy Lee Jones | ... | ||
| Christine Lahti | ... | ||
| Rosanna Arquette | ... | ||
| Eli Wallach | ... | ||
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Steven Keats | ... | |
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Jordan Clarke | ... | |
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Richard Venture | ... | |
| Jenny Wright | ... | ||
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Walter Olkewicz | ... | |
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Michael LeClair | ... | |
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Pat Corley | ... | |
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Mary Ethel Gregory | ... | |
| John Dennis Johnston | ... | ||
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Norris Mailer | ... |
Lu-Ann
(as Norris Church)
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Kenneth O'Brien | ... | |
Based on the true story of murderer Gary Mark Gilmore, spanning the last nine months of his life (May 1976-January 1977) in which at age 35, after being released for serving a long prison term in Utah for armed robbery, the unstable Gilmore murdered two men in two seperate and senseless robberies in which after a brief public trial in October, he was sentenced to death by firing squad which drew a lot of media attention when Gilmore insisted that his execution be carried out and he became the first man to be executed in the USA since the government reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Written by Matthew Patay
For a long "television film," I thought this story moved along well, even with the main characters being so sleazy the story gets a little unappealing at times. Of course, when has Rosanna Arquette ever played anything else in her younger days? Also, when did she not show off her big breasts? However, I usually find her playing interesting characters and she looked young and pretty in this early career (for her) TV-movie.
As for Tommy Lee Jones, who plays the main character "Gary Gilmore," I've always found him interesting, too. In this, Jones plays the famous real-life killer while Arquette is "Nicole Baker," his teenage girlfriend. Jones does a nice job showing how mentally messed up Gilmore was back then.
I surprised at the language in here for a television movie, but then again, I saw the "European version" of this movie. The longer American version, I assume, cut out some that language and perhaps some of Arquette's "skin."
I rarely comment about anybody else's review but I recommend reading the comments by "noelani" here since this woman lived in Gilmore's backyard, so to speak, during this period and has some interesting things to say.