The Executioner's Song

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.

Norman Mailer's book about Gary Gilmore was compelling in the first half, but the second half was a limp, uphill struggle. There's no such problem in the TV adaptation, which is tighter and absorbing all the way through, with both Tommy Lee Jones and Rosanna Arquette giving two of the best performances of their careers... you now know why it's easy for us to forgive him for "Batman Forever" and her for "Off The Wall" (which she made the following year, and oh dear me that was BAD).

This is available in both miniseries form and a shortened cable/theatrical version (to quote Buffy Summers, "We're talking violence, strong language, adult themes..."), but I actually prefer the TV version because while you get more nudity - female AND male - and more graphic scenes in the cable cut (not to mention lines like Rosanna's "Yeah, you and seven other motherf***ers"), it's at the expense of a little story coherence; you lose some seaminess in the miniseries version, but the tale is ultimately stronger, clearer and not so rushed. But either version is a must.

you may also be interested in the Mikhal Gilmore biography about his brother, Gary, and how they grew up in Oregon, being brutally abused by their father. Apparently, Gary Gilmore spent more time in juvenile detention homes than could be counted, and these institutions promoted the violent and hostile behavior which came to be seen by Gilmore as normal, even acceptable.

This film is primarily a documentary; look for Eli Wallach as Gilmore's Uncle Vern, trying to help his nephew function in the world. In Salt Lake City, Utah, where most of the film takes place, there is a cold unforgiving environment, similar to the environment Gilmore grew up in. As he grew up during the depression, options were scarce. Hostility, anger and frustration led to physical abuse, acting out, and eventually, murder. Rosanna Arquette is believable as the long-suffering girlfriend of Gilmore, who refuses to face reality.

This is an excellent film, due for a remake; perhaps Mikhal Gilmore could translate his book version into film. In real life, Gilmore's mother was devastated and traumatized, living in a trailer, mourning the horrible life her son had endured, a child who had no options, who grew up as an armed robber, and who finally demanded the state of Utah execute him in Draconian fashion. 9/10.

This was the oldest movie so far that I have seen of Tommy Lee Jones and it surpassed all my expectations. Here I was thinking that he got better with age, but he really was that good all along! He plays this role exceptionally well and I have even more respect for him as an actor now. Rosanna Arquette was very good indeed. I always thought her to play in brainless Hollywood movies, but this film was a good decision on her part. This film is another example of an unempowered woman who is alone and desperate for any attention that she can get. Unluckily for Nicole(Rosanna) this attention comes in the form of Gary (Tommy Lee), who is a very disturbed young man who sees human life as something that can be discarded of easily and without any hesitation on his part. Be it for money, or simply because he felt like it, Gary kills people without blinking. At the end of the movie Gary changes somewhat and it is welcome in an absurd kind of way? He makes peace with his lot and with himself and only then you feel sorry for him. If you are a Tommy Lee fan like me, then you definitely have to see this one. Hasta luego

I thought this was a very good dramatization of Mailer's huge book. Tommy Lee Jones does an excellent job of portraying psychopathic killer Gary Gilmore and Rosanna Arquette is terrific as his teenage girlfriend, Nicole. While it was a made for TV movie, some R-rated footage was added in when the movie had a European release. If you can get that version on tape, do so. Rosanna is dynamite in the more adult scenes.

Christine Lahti (who later won a short-film Oscar as a filmmaker) and Eli Wallach provide solid support. Jones shows the same brooding intensity that years later translated into an Oscar for him in "The Fugitive." Look for Ron Howard's father, Rance Howard, in a small part as the police detective who first interrogates Gilmore after his arrest.

It says something about the culture when a loser like Gilmore can be transformed into a sort of folk legend which is what the book and movie ultimately do. He had an enormous impact in 1977 by demanding that Utah go forward with his execution, the first execution in the US since the 1960s and the first since 1972 when the Supreme Court ruled that all death sentences prior to that date were unconstitutional. After Gilmore faced the firing squad hundreds of executions have been carried out. I would wager though that most Americans couldn't name more than two or three of those who have been executed but they will remember the small-time loser Gary Gilmore.