The Gary Gilmore story: a recently released ex-con (Tommy Lee Jones), who has spent more than half his life in prison mostly on robbery charges, is driven to murder when his significantly younger girlfriend (Rosanna Arquette) leaves him. Looking at an interminable stay on death row at a time when the country hadn't seen an execution in over a decade, he decides to fight for his right to die. Directed for television by Larry Schiller, who also figures prominently into and provided most of the material for Norman Mailer's expansive book on which the film is based, The Executioner's Song is hurt by its low budget, with key pieces missing, but the core is intact and young couldn't ask for a better performance from TLJ.
*** out ****
