Don't Believe the Hype

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Some great country music including:Talk Good Boogie; Get it On Again; So Good Woman; This Time; Defying Gravity (Executioner's Song); Are You Ready for the Countryall performed by Waylon Jennings.Also,One Piece at a Time Johnny CashThere's a few more that I can't identify. Certainly a good film but made better by having a decent soundtrackIf anyone has a more complete soundtrack listing please share it. The movie is out on DVD but there's also another cut that may have more soundtrack music.

A DVD that is represented as a director's cut should be exactly that. This DVD is not a director's cut. I remember watching this movie when it first aired on TV. There was one scene in particularly where despite the dim lighting, you could tell that Rosanna was partially nude. In this DVD, it is obvious that they have censored this scene by covering her up with dark blotches. It is the strangest sort of censoring that I've ever seen. They tried to make it look like she is wearing some sort of leotard, but it is obviously faked because it jumps around all over the place from one frame to the next, and anyone who saw this when it originally aired on TV will probably recall that Rosanna was not wearing any sort of leotard in this scene.I bought the "Director's Cut" because that was what I wanted. This amounts to false advertising. It is unethical, and it should not even be legal to do this. I hate when I buy a DVD and find this sort of thing. I encourage everyone to boycott this DVD.

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? However, I usually find her playing interesting characters and she looked young and pretty in this early career (for her) TV-movie. 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 surprised at the language in here for a television movie, but then again, I saw the "European version" of this movie. The longer American version, I assume, cut out some that language and perhaps some of Arquette's "skin."I rarely comment about anybody else's review but I recommend reading the comments by "noelani" here since this woman lived in Gilmore's backyard, so to speak, during this period and has some interesting things to say.

you may also be interested in the Mikhal Gilmore biography about his brother, Gary, and how they grew up in Oregon, being brutally abused by their father. Apparently, Gary Gilmore spent more time in juvenile detention homes than could be counted, and these institutions promoted the violent and hostile behavior which came to be seen by Gilmore as normal, even acceptable.This film is primarily a documentary; look for Eli Wallach as Gilmore's Uncle Vern, trying to help his nephew function in the world. In Salt Lake City, Utah, where most of the film takes place, there is a cold unforgiving environment, similar to the environment Gilmore grew up in. As he grew up during the depression, options were scarce. Hostility, anger and frustration led to physical abuse, acting out, and eventually, murder. Rosanna Arquette is believable as the long-suffering girlfriend of Gilmore, who refuses to face reality.This is an excellent film, due for a remake; perhaps Mikhal Gilmore could translate his book version into film. In real life, Gilmore's mother was devastated and traumatized, living in a trailer, mourning the horrible life her son had endured, a child who had no options, who grew up as an armed robber, and who finally demanded the state of Utah execute him in Draconian fashion. 9/10.