''The Executioner's Song'' is a 1982 American made-for-television biographical

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

film. It is a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Maile ...

's 1979

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

-winning novel of the same name. The film is directed by

Lawrence Schiller Lawrence Julian Schiller (born December 28, 1936) is an American photojournalist, film producer, director and screenwriter. Career Schiller was born in 1936 in Brooklyn to Jewish parents and grew up outside of San Diego, California. After atten ...

from a screenplay by Mailer.

Plot

The movie is about the final nine months of the life of

Gary Gilmore Gary Mark Gilmore (born Faye Robert Coffman; December 4, 1940 – January 17, 1977) was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he had admitted to committing ...

, beginning with his release from prison at the age of 35 after serving 12 years for robbery in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. He is allowed to fly to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

to live with Brenda Nicol, a distant cousin who was close to him and agrees to sponsor him. She tries to help him get back to normal life, which he finds extremely difficult after being in prison for so long. He soon moves to live with his Uncle Vern, with whom he works in shoe repair, and Vern's wife. Gilmore next moves on to another job, at an insulation factory, where he performs well at first, but starts to have erratic hours and contentious relationships with co-workers. Gilmore meets and becomes romantically involved with Nicole Baker, a 19-year-old young woman with two young children. Despite his efforts to reform himself, Gilmore begins to fight, steal items from stores, and abuse alcohol and drugs. The people who care for him are distressed to see these patterns re-emerge. Nicole breaks up with Gilmore after he hits her, and she goes into hiding with her children. Gilmore soon murders two men in two separate robberies over two days. His cousin Brenda tells police she suspects Gilmore is involved, and he is taken into custody. He is convicted of one of the murders and

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

under a state law designed to accommodate the US Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, which found most state laws on capital punishment to constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," prohibited under the Constitution. States worked to revise their laws. While his attorneys, the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...

and his family try to persuade Gilmore to pursue more appeals, he argues to have the sentence carried out and becomes a national media sensation. Publishers and reporters vie to buy his story and film rights. The night before his death, family, friends and lawyers join Gilmore for a party on death row. On January 17, 1977, Gilmore is executed by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

, as he chose. His body is then burned after parts are extracted for donation in accordance with his wishes. He was the first person to be judicially executed in the United States after the execution of Luis Monge in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

on June 2, 1967.

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' T ...

as Gary Mark Gilmore * Christine Lahti as Brenda Nicol * Rosanna Arquette as Nicole Baker * Eli Wallach as Uncle Vern Damico * Steven Keats as Larry Samuels * Jordan Clarke as Johnny Nicol * Richard Venture as Earl Dorius *

Jenny Wright Jennifer G. Wright (born March 23, 1962) is an American former actress who made her film debut portraying the role of Cushie in the comedy-drama '' The World According to Garp'' in 1982. That same year she made an appearance in the live-action/ani ...

as April Baker *

Walter Olkewicz Walter Olkewicz (May 14, 1948 – April 6, 2021) was an American character actor. He played Marko in the short-lived TV series '' Wizards and Warriors'' and Coach Wordman in the feature film '' Making the Grade''. Biography Olkewicz was born in ...

as Pete Galovan * Michael LeClair as Rikki Wood *

Pat Corley Pat Corley (June 1, 1930 – September 11, 2006) was an American actor. He was known for his role as bar owner Phil on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' from 1988 to 1996. He also had a recurring role as Chief Coroner Wally Nydorf on the tel ...

as Val Conlan * Mary Ethel Gregory as Ida Damico * John Dennis Johnston as Jimmy Poker-Game * Norris Mailer as Lu-Ann (as Norris Church) * Kenneth O'Brien as Spencer McGrath * Rance Howard as Lt. Johnson *

Charles Cyphers Charles Cyphers (born July 28, 1939) is an American actor who is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 movie ''Halloween''. He reprised ...

as Noall Wootton * Robert DeMotte as Garage Mechanic * Jim Youngs as Sterling Baker * Grace Zabriskie as Kathryne Baker

Production

Mailer originally asked Lanford Wilson to adapt the story, but Wilson politely declined. It was originally produced as a two-part TV movie running a total of 200 minutes on November 28 and 29, 1982. Later it was re-edited in a 97-minute theatrical version for European distribution, with additions of scenes of violence and nudity. Parts of the film were shot at the

Utah State Prison Utah State Prison (USP) was one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It was located in Draper, Utah, United States, about southwest of Salt Lake City.Utah Department of Correc ...

in Draper and the city of

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Utah, fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County, Utah, Utah County and is home to Bri ...

Reception

In what the ''New York Times'' described as a "searing performance," Tommy Lee Jones won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for his role in this work.Hal Erickson, ''The Executioner's Song''
''New York Times'', 2010, accessed 31 May 2015 ''Time Out- London'' said about the film's performances: "Jones (playing Gilmore) goes his own fascinating route to the loser's nirvana without recourse to psycho-style tics, while strong character performances from Arquette and Lahti constantly shift the focus back towards the everyday straitjacket of Utah underdogs."PT, "The Executioner's Song"
''Time Out (London)'', n.d., accessed 31 May 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Executioner's Song 1982 television films 1982 films 1982 crime drama films 1980s biographical drama films American crime drama films American biographical drama films Films based on non-fiction books Films about capital punishment Crime films based on actual events NBC network original films Films directed by Lawrence Schiller Films set in 1976 Films set in 1977 Films set in Utah Films shot in Utah 1980s American films