Customer Reviews

Executioner's Song [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

For many years, I'd been hoping to see "The Executioner's Song" released on DVD. But now that it's finally available, the result is extremely disappointing.

A "director's cut" usually indicates that a movie has had footage ADDED to it. But Lawrence Schiller has done the unimaginable and ripped 50 minutes from his three-hour film! I mean, WHY? Did Schiller actually believe that anyone would be happy to see nearly one-third of "Executioner's Song" hacked away?!

For anyone who is familiar with this movie (either from the VHS version or broadcast viewings), watching Schiller's "director's cut" is a very frustrating experience since none of the many deleted scenes were superfluous to the film!

In addition, the total lack of any extras on this DVD is another big disappointment. I'd have gladly paid more to see a "making of" documentary or interviews with the principal actors (who are all still living 26 years after the production of this movie).

"The Executioner's Song" was one of the very best made-for-TV films of the 1980s and deserved far better than the cheap, hack-job of a DVD release it's gotten. I would advise a search for the VHS version--and then enjoy "The Executioner's Song" as it was meant to be seen.

I HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR THIS MOVIE ON DVD,I WAS REALLY DISAPPOINTED.THEY DIDN'T JUST CUT THIS MOVIE THEY RAPED IT!A LOT OF THE GOOD SCENES HAVE BEEN CUT OUT,AFTER SEEING THE MINI-SERIES ON TV THIS CUT JUST DOESN'T DO IT FOR ME.I HOPE THEY COME OUT WITH AN UNCUT FULL VERSION OF THIS GREAT MOVIE.

I want my two hours back, the two hours of my life I wasted watching this abomination of a recut classic. How a director could savage and homogenize his greatest accomplishment is totally beyond me.

Put simply, the original was white hot in it's display of the sexual magnetism between the two exceedingly pitiful main characters - hot enough to be the work Tommy Lee Jones and Roseanne Arquette's future performances would forever be judged against.

But it isn't just the fleeting but heavenly sights of Ms. Arquette skirting in and out of the sheets that we're missing here. It's giant chunks of storytelling and character development.

Dumbed down and made safe as milk, a daring film made dull as dishwater.

Avoid at all costs. I mean it... if you see it at a yard sale for 49 cents, leave it on the pile with the broken 8 track player and the baby sneakers. Total rubbish.

A well-acted film, with one of Tommy Lee Jones' most compelling performances. There are two versions of the film, though: a censored U.S. tv print, and an uncensored, edgier rest-of-the-planet version. The one shown recently on Universal's HD channel is the censored version, which probably doesn't bode well for us getting the complete print.
MUCH LATER: as you can probably tell from the other reviews, this release, allegedly the director's cut, is the US tv version. On the plus side, the transfer is very good - better than any version I've seen.

The original move was uncensored but I hardly recognized this mess as the same movie I enjoyed so many years ago. I made the mistake of thinking "Director's Cut" meant it was the original film. Boy was I wrong!

The only reason to purchase this chopped to pieces version is to use it as an example of our purtain, censorious moral beliefs in a society that rates violent movies as G or PG and lovemaking or nudity as R or X.

What a perfect example of our upside-down beliefs.

You are missing a great movie here, but not this gutted version!

This is a good movie but labled as directors cut you would exspect more in the movie not less. movie companys are re-relising movies under director cut and unrated just for sales. i remember seeing this on the movie networks years ago and it was shocking and controversial. this edition is substansialy shorter than the vhs version. if you have never seen this movie i do recomend it but if you can get the vhs edition.

also it would be nice too have reveiws that are specifically for the product in question and not for every edition they produce it in.

This once great movie has been severely edited, leaving out many scenes. I've been anticipating the release of this movie for a long time, so this is a disappointment. There is none of the chemistry between the main actors. The movie jumps around and seems disconnected and hard to follow. I would not recommend this. Try to find a copy of the original VHS release and buy that, preferably digital. This movie needs to be released with all the original scenes, in the expanded version, otherwise it is a waste of time.

I found this movie rather disappointing.After reading the Pullitzer Prize winning novel by Norman Mailer,& an in depth interview with Gary Gilmore by Playboy in 1977,it is for certain that Gary Gilmore was not accurately portrayed in this movie.The book was well researched based on actual court transcripts,letters between Gary & Nicole,& interviews with several people who knew the convicted murderer.
In the movie,the man was played with far too much feeling.The character came across as too mannerly & wimpy.The real Gary was no wimp by any stretch of the imagination.Consider a man at 35 who spent half of his life locked up.A man who killed 2 men execution style for no reason whatsoever - without even batting an eye.A guy like that is not going to be overly sensitive.The movie portrays him as a sensitive person.In actual fact he was quite intelligent,but rather curt & aggressive in interview,& only showed any iota of feeling for his mother,his brother,& Nicole,& even then it was basic.
Maybe it was in part due to the fact the movie was made for TV.The first part of the movie I kept wondering when the real Gary would come across.It was only in the second part where Gary was captured,that parts of the real Gary Gilmore were allowed to shine through.Some things were true to form,for instance when the Judge asked Gary what his preferred mode of execution would be,Tommy Lee played that out exactly as it should be with the exact words Gary said.There were a few other scenes where he played it well.I don't think it had anything to do with the acting at all.It was probably the fault of writing & directing that caused the essence of the real man to be lost.As well I think Roseanna Arquette made Nicole seem a lot more intelligent than she really was.
What this movie needed was to show the character as hard,edgy,& aggressive.The movie should also have captured the period with more 70's hit songs,than just a couple with a great deal of hokey country tunes for the soundtrack.Also they completely botched up the music that actually played in the van when Gary was taken to the cannery for his execution.The real song that played would have been perfect because of the lyrics,but the filmmaker botched that up too,& once again,on comes another hokey,tear in yer beer country tune.
If you want to find out about the real Gary Gilmore,read the book by Norman Mailer.It's fascinating & factual.If you can get a hold of that back issue -The April 1977 issue of Playboy,that contains the powerful interview with Gary Gilmore ,GET IT!It's very enlightening & profound.Check out the A & E biography of him,& get a hold of Mikal Gilmore's book about his brother.
This movie is well cast,& fairly good.However you only get a tiny glimpse of the real killer here.

People listen to me save your hard earned money and buy the first VHS tape of this, not the Euro one but the first one include 50 more min of the movie not shown on this DVD. I waited a long time for this to come out on DVD ,then you only see half of it .

What a great movie! Tommy Lee does a superb performance portraying the convicted killer Gary Gilmore. Tommy Lee and Roseanne Arquette really make this movie execiting. I think this is one of the finest true life dramas ever produced. BRING BACK THIS MOVIE!! I would really like to purchase this movie. Why isn't it available? I'm sure I am not the only one who would like to purchase it. Please BRING IT BACK!