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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 13141
Released: August 5, 2008 |
| Our Price: $12.18 |
| Used Price: $13.20 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 157 minutes
Description of The Executioner's Song (Director's Cut):
Although Gary Gilmore had a pitiful life, it was enough of an American story gone bad to give Normal Mailer a platform for a grand, strange, utterly compelling book: The Executioner's Song, published in 1979. Mailer's literary collaborator, Lawrence Schiller, made the book into a TV-movie (with Mailer scripting), a landmark for its frankness and the general excellence of its acting. Gilmore is brought to vivid life by Tommy Lee Jones, who electrified audiences with his insightful work (this, coming shortly after Coal Miner's Daughter, was one of the roles that really put Jones on the map). Even more revelatory was Rosanna Arquette, virtually unknown at the time, whose role as Gilmore's girlfriend and "guardian angel" instantly put her on the A-list. The heat the two actors generate goes a long way toward establishing their unholy bond, credibility the film absolutely needs in order to work; watch them in an early scene where Gilmore describes the mystical nature of their connection, and you see two actors working at an uncanny level. The approach overall is plain, but that might be why the movie is so effective. This version, advertised as the "Director's Cut," is a curious amalgam of the movie's other versions; the original U.S. TV cut, which stretched out over two nights, and a European cut that included nudity and unexpurgated language. This one is 135 minutes long, has the language, but not the nudity--a swifter-moving entity than either of the previous films. It can't really be called a definitive issue, although the power of the material still comes through. --Robert Horton
The Executioner's Song (Director's Cut) Reviews:
Not what you think! 
2009-09-06 - I recently purchased this movie and was very disappointed with it. There were scenes gone from this edition and it was supposed to be a "director's cut" sorry but WHATEVER. If you get a chance to see the tv edition of this movie, you will know what i mean. Stick with the tv edition, it's a lot better.
Jones, Arquette Play Interesting-But-Sick 'Characters' 
2009-02-10 - 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? (not that I'm complaining).
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 was surprised at the language in here for a television movie, but then again, I saw the "European version" of this movie on a VHS. The American version, I assume, cut out some that language and perhaps some of Arquette's "skin."
Not bad
2008-12-16 - It's okay but they left out all the good stuff. the original is alot better in my opionion. When she's having Sex with Gary they cut out most of the nudity if not all!!
Tommy Lee Jones is Fantastic 
2008-11-26 - Tommy Lee Jones really did an exceptional job in this film, he really had me feeling sorry for Gary Gilmore. This is an excellent film, I highly recommend it.
Excellant movie
2008-10-04 - What can you say about Tommy Lee Jones and Rosanna Arquette.
THey are always great.
