• Rating:
• Genre: Crime
• Movie Type: Crime Drama, Biography
• Themes: Death Row
• Director: Lawrence Schiller
• Main Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Rosanna Arquette, Eli Wallach, Christine Lahti, Steven Keats
• Release Year: 1982
• Country: US
• Run Time: 157 minutes

Plot

Tommy Lee Jones won an Emmy for his searing performance as wanton killer Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song. The film covers the last nine months of Gilmore's life, beginning with his release from prison in 1976. Linking up with teen-age divorcee Nicole Baker (Rosanna Arquette), Gilmore makes a half-hearted effort to go straight, but ends up embarking on a robbery spree that culminates in two cold-blooded murders. Arrested and sentenced to be executed, Gilmore insists upon being put to death (Utah law required a firing squad for this); he spends his final days as a poster boy for anti-death penalty activists and as a "client" for an entrepreneur (Steven Keats) who wants to make a film of Gilmore's life. Adapted by Norman Mailer from his own book, The Executioner's Song originally aired in two parts on November 28 and 29, 1982. It has since been boiled down to a 97-minute theatrical film for European consumption, with additional scenes of violence and nudity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Tommy Lee Jones - Gary Gilmore
• Rosanna Arquette - Nicole Baker
• Eli Wallach - Uncle Vern Damico
• Christine Lahti - Brenda Nicol
• Steven Keats - Larry Samuels

Jay Bernard - Prison Official
Thomas A. Carlin - Speaker #1
John Chappell - Ron Stanger
Pat Corley - Val Conlan
Charles Cyphers - Noall Wootton
Susan French - Bessie Gilmore
Ray Girardin - Snyder
Rance Howard - Lieutenant Nelson
Victoria Jean - Pepper
John Dennis Johnston - Jimmy Poker-Game
Michael Le Clair - Rikki Wood
Kenneth O'Brien - Spencer McGrath
Walter Olkewicz - Pete Galovan
H.E.D. Redford - Norman Fulmer
Oscar Rowland - Judge #1
William Sanderson - Gibbs
Richard Venture - Earl Dorius
Kenneth White - Warden Smith
Jenny Wright - April Baker
Jim Youngs - Sterling Baker
Grace Zabriskie - Kathryne Baker
Jordan Clarke
Robert Boon - Doctor #1
Grant Gottschall - Mikal Gilmore
Russ McGinn - First Patrolman

Credit

John Cacavas - Composer (Music Score); Michael Economou - Editor; Freddie Francis - Cinematographer; Norman Mailer - Screenwriter; Norman Mailer - Book Author; Bryan Ryman - Production Designer; Lawrence Schiller - Director; Lawrence Schiller - Producer; Jesse Wayne - Stunts Coordinator; Richard A. Harris - Editor

Similar Movies

At Close Range; Badlands; The Execution of Private Slovik; The Execution of Raymond Graham; In Cold Blood; Let Him Have It; The Onion Field; Targets; Vengeance Is Mine; Cell 2455, Death Row; M; Flesh and Bone; Dead Man Walking; Last Dance; Le Pull-Over Rouge; The Laramie Project; Mrs. Soffel