A wide range of issues related to crime and punishment are being hotly debated around the country. Polls indicate that a majority of Americans favor stiffer sentences, including the death penalty, for criminals. The concept of rehabilitation is questioned widely. People now seem to be more interested in victims' rights and "just desserts"; the community wants retaliation against the criminal for having violated its rules.
The Executioner's Song, is an adaptation of Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize winning "true-life" novel. The drama is a portrait of murderer Gary Gilmore over a nine-month period from the time he was paroled from prison in 1976 until his death before a firing squad at the Utah State Prison on January 17, 1977.
Tommy Lee Jones stars as Gary Gilmore in this Lawrence Schiller Production. Eli Wallach, Christine Lahti, Steven Keats and Rosanna Arquette also appear. Lawrence Schiller directs from a screenplay by Norman Mailer.
Gary Gilmore, who has already spent 18 of his 35 years in various prisons, is released from the federal penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, on April 9, 1976, when his cousin Brenda co-sponsors his parole. He travels to Provo, Utah, where his Uncle Vern gives him work and lodging. The family hopes that Gary will abandon his criminal lifestyle and become a respectable member of the community.
After taking a new job at an insulation factory, the ex-con meets Nicole, a 20-year-old with two children and a record of three broken marriages. These two "soul-mates" live together until Gilmore reverts to old patterns of stealing, drinking and violence. Nicole leaves him and retreats into hiding.
On two successive evenings, Gilmore goes on a robbery and killing spree. His first victim is a gas station attendant; the second is a motel night clerk. After being apprehended quickly, he is tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Gary chooses execution by a firing squad, but his death is postponed by legal interventions.
While in prison, Gilmore re-establishes his relationship with Nicole and convinces her to join him in a suicide pact. They both survive a drug overdose. By now the Gilmore case has become a national media event. Journalist Lawrence Schiller buys the rights to the murderer's story. The press clamors for more information, and a variety of groups use the situation as an opportunity to protest capital punishment.
Through it all, Gary Gilmore contends that he has a right to die according to the sentence given him in court. Finally, on the morning of January 17, 1977, he gets his wish.