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Thread: Death Penalty Movies

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Death Penalty Movies

    = My opinion

    The 10 best death penalty movies are normally anti-death penalty stories, showing what happens when a man who is not guilty is sentenced to death. There is also a number of movies that follows people who get to know the accused on the way to the execution.


    1. “Paths of Glory” – Directed by Stanley Kubrick, this is one of the greatest death penalty movies ever made. When French soldiers sent on a suicide mission are betrayed by their commanding officers, their direct commander represents them in their court martial, where they face death by firing squad if found guilty.


    2. “The Thin Blue Line” – This documentary is one of the best death penalty movies ever made if, for no other reason, than because it helped clear the name of the man sitting on death row. The accused is a Texas man, arrested and found guilty for a murder he never committed.

    3. “The Green Mile” – Based on the Stephen King novel, this remains one of the best death penalty movies of all time. A large African American man is found guilty of murdering two young girls and is sentenced to death. While on death row, we learn he is innocent but there is no way to stop his inevitable execution.


    4. “Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman” – This movie tells the true-life story of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain’s official hangman from 1932 until 1956. Pierrepoint executed over 400 individuals, including around 200 Nazi war criminals over his distinguished career.


    5. “Capote” – This film is based on the encounters between true-crime author Truman Capote and convicted murderer Perry Smith. The interviews became the novel “In Cold Blood” and the movie documenting them remains one of the best death penalty movies of all time.


    6. “Dead Man Walking” – While heavy handed at times, this remains one of the best death penalty movies of all time. Sean Penn plays a man on death row who killed a young couple and Susan Sarandon is the religious woman that he turns to for help in his final days.

    7. “The Star Chamber” – This is an interesting movie from the early ‘80s that looks at how a group of judges deal with men who get off of their crimes in one of the best death penalty movies. The judges set up the Star Chamber, where they pass out death penalties to criminals who slip through the cracks.

    8. “Shocker” – This Wes Craven horror movie is a lot of fun and one of the best death penalty movies made. A serial killer is put to death in the electric chair but, thanks to a deal with the devil, is able to possess people after his death and continue his murdering ways.


    9. “True Crime” – Clint Eastwood is a journalist assigned to cover the execution of a convicted murderer in one of the best death penalty movies of all time. When the journalist discovers that the man might be innocent, he sets out to discover the truth before it is too late.


    10. “The Life of David Gale” – This is one of the most heavy handed of the best death penalty movies. Kevin Spacey plays a man found guilty of murder and awaits his execution on death row. The entire movie is designed to show what happens when an innocent man is put to death by the state.


    http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/...enalty-movies/

  2. #2
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    I have to say that I think the best one ever is Dead Man Walking. Despite the fact that we know that Susan Sarandon and director Tim Robbins are four-square against the death penalty in real life, I thought the movie was, I daresay, courageous in a way. It didn't take the easy way out by having the death-row inmate be innocent, you know, some poor black guy framed for a murder he'd never committed. Instead, as he's getting executed, you're shown exactly why he's ended up on the gurney. Though I imagine it wasn't Robbins' intention, the execution scene ends up being as strong a pro-death penalty statement as there's ever been in the history of cinema.

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    I do agree Dead Man Walking is a powerful film and Sean Penn's portrayal of Matthew Poncelet is gripping to say the least. I saw Dead Man Walking in the theater many years ago, and although I have always been pro death penalty, I didn't like the sympathetic feeling I had for Penn's character. I was disgusted by the rape scene so for me to have that reaction was a bit disturbing.



    Even on her best day Prejean will never resemble Sarandon.

    Dead Man Walking execution clip


  4. #4
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Well, the sympathetic feeling you had was there because murderers are still human beings. Most don't spend 100% of every day being evil. Nonetheless, it doesn't mean that some murderers don't deserve to be executed. However, it is notable that many states have the death chamber in a separate penitentiary from the one housing death row--this is the case, in part, because many guards get too attached to the inmates to want to help put them to death.

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Some trivia I read stated a lot states set executions for midnight or the early morning hours to curb inmate uprisings. I would imagine that is another reason the Department of Corrections have moved the execution chambers to separate prisons. I recall on the morning of James Briley's execution all hell broke loose and 9 guards and one inmate were injured.

    More than one half of states with the death penalty, Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, still house death row in the same complex as the execution chamber. I know Indiana's is right at the end of the cells on death row. What any of that has to do with this thread..I don't know

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Susan Sarandon calls the Pope a 'Nazi'

    Susan Sarandon dropped a zinger or two when she appeared at the Bay Street Theatre yesterday for an interview with fellow actor Bob Balaban. The outspokenly political actress talked about Occupy Wall Street, recalled her run-ins with the NYPD over the Amadou Diallo case and called the current Pope a "Nazi."

    That last comment was somewhat off-handed. She was discussing her 1995 film "Dead Man Walking," based on the anti-death-penalty book by Sister Helen Prejean, a copy of which she sent to the Pope.

    "The last one," she said, "not this Nazi one we have now." Balaban gently tut-tutted, but Sarandon only repeated her remark.

    Of all the places on largely Catholic Long Island, perhaps only in the Hamptons could Sarandon get a laugh with such a comment. She may have only used "Nazi" to mean "dictatorial" or "cold," but it's a dangerous word for public figures to throw around. In Cannes, after the director Lars von Trier randomly and jokingly called himself a Nazi, the French festival banned him and demanded an apology. He has since stopped talking to the media.

    http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...nazi-1.3250566

  7. #7
    Wayne
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    Some trivia I read stated a lot states set executions for midnight or the early morning hours to curb inmate uprisings. I would imagine that is another reason the Department of Corrections have moved the execution chambers to separate prisons. I recall on the morning of James Briley's execution all hell broke loose and 9 guards and one inmate were injured.

    More than one half of states with the death penalty, Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, still house death row in the same complex as the execution chamber. I know Indiana's is right at the end of the cells on death row. What any of that has to do with this thread..I don't know
    Another reason some states opt for a midnight or early morning execution is that some death warrants are valid for that date, but at any time. By arranging an execution early in the morning of the date stated on the warrant, it means that if they get a stay of a few hours, they can execute the inmate without issuing a new death warrant (if the stay is lifted).

  8. #8
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Michael Clarke Duncan: Actor dead at 54

    Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in “The Green Mile” and such other box office hits as “Armageddon,” “Planet of the Apes” and “Kung Fu Panda,” is dead at age 54.

    Clarke died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancée, Reverend Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily.

    The muscular, 6-foot-4 Duncan, a former bodyguard who turned to acting in his 30s, “suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered,” the statement said. “Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date.”

    In the spring of 2012, Clarke had appeared in a video for PETA, the animal rights organization, in which he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier.

    “I cleared out my refrigerator, about $5,000 worth of meat,” he said. “I’m a lot healthier than I was when I was eating meat.”

    Duncan had a handful of minor roles before “The Green Mile” brought him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. The 1999 film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, starred Tom Hanks as a corrections officer at a penitentiary in the 1930s. Duncan played John Coffey, a convicted murderer with a surprisingly gentle demeanor and extraordinary healing powers.

    Duncan’s performance caught on with critics and moviegoers and he quickly became a favorite in Hollywood, appearing in several films a year. He owed some of his good fortune to Bruce Willis, who recommended Duncan for “The Green Mile” after the two appeared together in “Armageddon.” Clarke would work with Willis again in “Breakfast of Champions,” “The Whole Nine Yards” and “Sin City.”

    His industrial-sized build was suited for everything from superhero films (“Daredevil”) to comedy (“Talledega Nights,” “School for Scoundrels”). His gravelly baritone alone was good enough for several animated movies, including, “Kung Fu Panda,” “Delgo” and “Brother Bear.” Among Clarke’s television credits: “The Apprentice,” “The Finder,” “Two and a Half Men” and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.”

    Born in Chicago in 1957, Duncan was raised by a single mother whose resistance to his playing football led to his deciding he wanted to become an actor. But when his mother became ill, he dropped out of college, Alcorn State University, and worked as a ditch digger and bouncer to support her. By his mid-20s, he was in Los Angeles, where he looked for acting parts and became a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and other stars. The murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., for whom Duncan had been hired to protect before switching assignments, led him to quit his job and pursue acting full-time.

    Early film and television credits, when he was usually cast as a bodyguard or bouncer, included “Bulworth,” “A Night at the Roxbury” and “The Players Club.”

    Read more: Michael Clarke Duncan: Actor dead at 54 - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz25RzHwZqb
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  9. #9
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Conviction is another good movie but I guess it's more about LWOP since MA has no DP. The sad part is the guy died only a few months after being released.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Member RobertH's Avatar
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    I would add "The Chamber"to this list.

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