Trailer
Plot summary
At thirty-five, after twelve years in an Indiana prison for robbery, Gary Gilmore flies to Utah. His cousin Brenda Nicol, who is close to him, agrees to take him in and tries to help him settle into ordinary life, a change he struggles with. He then stays with his Uncle Vern Damico and his wife, working in the uncle's shoe repair shop, and later takes a job at an insulation factory. There he does well at first, though his hours turn uneven and he clashes with the men he works beside. He becomes romantically involved with Nicole Baker, a nineteen-year-old raising two small children. Fights, shoplifting, drinking and drugs disturb the people who care about him.
Cast
- Jordan Clarkeas Johnny Nicol
- Kenneth O'Brienas Spencer McGrath
- Mary Ethel Gregoryas Ida Damico
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Executioner's Song (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
On January 17, 1977, Gilmore was executed by firing squad, as he chose. He was the first person to be judicially executed in the United States after the execution of Luis Monge in Colorado on June 2, 1967.- The film was re-edited into a 136-minute theatrical version for European distribution, with additions of scenes of violence and nudity. Parts of it were shot at the Utah State Prison in Draper and in the city of Provo, Utah.
- 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 188 minutes, broadcast on November 28 and 29, 1982.
- Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel devoted a 1986 episode of their show to overlooked movies, and advised viewers to seek out the longer European theatrical version, as it restored a lot of material edited out when the film was shown on American TV in 1982.
- Tommy Lee Jones won an Emmy Award for his role in the film, in what the New York Times described as a "searing performance".
