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In fall 1977, Mikal Gilmore and his older brother Frank Jr. ride through the Salt Lake Valley in a Rolls-Royce driven by ACLU lawyer Richard Giaque. They are on their way to Utah's Draper Prison for a "one-time-only" visit with their notorious brother Gary, a death-row inmate set to be executed in a few days. Convicted a year earlier of the brutal murders of two Mormon men, Gary has been sentenced to death in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate capital punishment. Since he stands to become the first American in more than a decade to be executed, Gary has become the subject of enormous national attention, and his request to die stuns his ailing mother Bessie and confuses his brothers. Mikal and Frank hope to meet with Gary, change his mind, and get papers signed that will stay the execution. Written by
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What happens when your brother is a killer?
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I first saw this HBO movie when it came out 2001 on air and I found it good. Then when I brought Mikal Gilmore's book which the movie was based on, I found that I could not put it down because it was so moving and sad. I could not imaging growing up in such a dysfunctional family and coming out of it with some sense of sanity and Mikal did seem to survive it.
I am not afraid to write this down, but I felt like crying when watching this film because the story was so raw and filled with such wonderful darkness - I use the term 'wonderful darkness' because this was a story about a man's need to connect with his brother Gary, who he barely knows who committed murder. This need results in heartbreak and a bit of clarity and definitely understanding about Not only Gary, but his whole family and how they dealt with things and each other. Giovanni Ribisi was phenomenal as Mikal Gilmore, in fact so were much of the cast, which had Sam Shepard as the boy's father Frank and Lee Tergesen as the oldest son, Frank Jr.
Relationships and family dynamics played a huge role throughout this film and I felt that Mikal Gilmore did a great job in writing the book, which is reflected very well in the film.
I finally brought the DVD of this film two, three ago and I watched it yesterday. If anything, my appreciation for "Shot in the Heart" has only grown with time.