The Executioner's Song

The Executioner's song is based on the Gary Gilmore case. Gary Gilmore murdered two innocent men in cold blood and when the courts found him guilty he was sentenced to death. When the chance of a appeal comes up giving Gilmore only 30 years. He decides to fight against it and accept his Execution in front of a Utah firing squad. Gilmore Wanted his freedom but if he could not have that then he wanted to die.

Gary Gilmore was on 35 when he was paroled from prison after doing a 12 year sentence. By then Gilmore had spent more then half his life behind bars . When is released into his cousin Brenda's custody Gilmore finds Life on the outside to be different and difficult. Gilmore finds himself in a hurry . He wants money he wants love and he wants it NOW ! Gary only understands the way things work in prison. To him life on the outside is harder. When he meets Nicole a flighty blonde with kids and a woman who decides Gary is worth fighting for only then does his life start to turn around. But Gary has a issue of violence and of fear of losing the only sane thing in his life.When things don't start going right for them only then does Gary fall back on old habits and he adds a new weapon to his arsenal. Gary murders two men in cold blood after Nicole leaves him in terror fearing for her life. When Gary is arrested. He goes to court where he is found guilty .and sentenced to die the method is chosen by Gary and he chooses firing squad .When the lawyers file a appeal Gary becomes famous arguing that he wants to die. despite the people who argue that want him to live. Gary Gilmore finally gets his wish and pays for his crimes in Jan 1977 .by the Utah firing squad.

Tommy Lee Jones always excellent in every role he takes Shines as Gary Gilmore. bring Gilmore's Jekyall and Hyde persona to life. Eli Wallach does a wonderful turn as Uncle Vern who at first wants to give Gary a chance then realizes Gary is nothing more then a rabid dog. Rosanna Arquette does such a god job here its hard to believe she was never a major star this movie shows her potential If you are a fan of the true crime genre . This one is a must watch classic and for very good reason. Its compelling and stays with you long after its over .

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.

"The Executioner's Song" from 1982 was a TV movie, and on Netflix, I believe they send out the director's cut. It has lots of Roseanna Arquette's breasts and other body parts.

Based on the book by Norman Mailer (who also wrote the screenplay), this is the story of Gary Gilmore, who became famous by demanding that the state of Utah go ahead with his execution. It was the first execution in the US since the 1960s and the first since 1972 when the Supreme Court ruled that death sentences prior to that date were unconstitutional, which is why the Manson group was not executed.

Gilmore, who requested to face a firing squad, became kind of a cause celebre. As a hero of some sort, I suppose he fits in well with today's idea of a celebrity. He was basically a loser who always chose the easy way out. When he was released on parole for robbery, he had the help and support of his cousin (Christine Lahti) and his uncle (Eli Wallach), but he was unable to hold down a job and became obsessed with a 19-year-old (Arquette) with two children.

He then returned to the robbery business and for no good reason shot and killed two people after he robbed them.

I believe this was a TV movie in two parts, so what I saw was shortened. As a result, to make way for Arquette's body, there was quite a bit cut, making it jerky.

My main problem was getting any sympathy going for Gilmore or Arquette. Tommy Lee Jones did a terrific job, but even though Gary's family loved him and just hated the things he did, I as an audience member didn't share their feelings. As far as I'm concerned, he wanted to die because he didn't want to stay in prison. He robbed so he could pay for a truck and didn't have to work. Same old story - the easy way out.

This story was described as "tragic." The tragedy is that the Arquette character had two children. She was a whack job who tried to commit suicide so that she and Gary could continue their affair in heaven. It said at the end of the movie that she moved and started over. I hope for the sake of her kids that she made it. I have no doubt with her figure she met somebody. Let's hope it wasn't another loser.

In the summer of 1976, my husband was a 25 year old full-time student at Brigham Young University, and we were renting a tiny house in Orem, Utah. Orem was generally a quiet town, where one could lie in bed on a summer night, with windows wide open, and hear only the noise of a few crickets chirping and dogs barking, and the occasional buzz of a car driven by someone who was working a night shift.

In the middle of the night of 19 July, I awoke to the sounds of sirens...lots of them. I knew there must have been some very significant event, for there to be multiple sirens blaring, and wondered if it might possibly have been a house fire. I didn't find out what those sirens we all about until two days later, when a neighbor commented that there had been another murder the night before. That was when I learned that the sirens I had heard were because of a murder at a gas station just a few blocks away. Soon after, the name of the victim became known. He was a 25 year old BYU student, who had actually served in the mission field with my husband, in Brazil. The young man also had a wife and a new baby, and had been working the night shift at the gas station to support his family, while attending college full-time. The victim of the second murder was another 25 year old BYU student, who was working nights to support a pregnant wife and baby, while attending the university.

I will refrain from using the names of the two fine young men whose lives were ended in such a brutal and senseless manner, out of respect for the privacy of their families. But their names remain, in my mind, and I have often thought of them, over the years, and wondered how they were doing; the wives, now in their fifties, as I am, and also the children, now around 30 years old, who were deprived of their fathers by Gary Gilmore's senseless rampage.

I will never forget the first images I ever saw of Gary Gilmore, taken when he was very first apprehended. He looked like a wild man, with an unkempt beard and long hair flying everywhere, with a crazed look in his eyes. Soon after, however, he took on a clean cut look, which certainly would have increased the general public's sympathy. That started America's interest in Gary Gilmore. In the weeks that followed, it seemed that many Americans couldn't get enough of the story of the ex-con and his little girlfriend, Nicole. The media turned it into a Romeo and Juliette story, about the young man from a tough background, down on his luck, and his beautiful young sweetheart. I'll never forget the time that television programming was interrupted for a special report, stating that Gilmore and Nichol had both been found unconscious, following a suicide attempt, with pictures of the two, side by side. It made me ill to see the way the story was romanticized, while two young widows grieved the loss of their husbands.

When Gilmore was finally executed, I was relieved. There had been local talk of him possibly being released from prison on a technicality, if the sentence of execution was not carried out soon, and I was terrified that he might set out to murder another young BYU student. After the news from the execution finally died down, I did my best to avoid thinking of anything to do with Gary Gilmore.

When I heard about the made-for-TV movie, The Executioner's Song, I was appalled that someone would give Gilmore MORE attention. It took me nearly 20 years to finally watch the film. I will say that Tommy Lee Jones and Rosanna Arquette were brilliant in their roles, and the supporting roles were also well portrayed. I think it did a fair job of presenting the story with a minimum of glorification of Gilmore, while calling attention to the victims of his crimes, at least to some extent. I only hope that Gilmore's victims' wives and children benefited from any money made from the film.

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.