This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since July 2006.

The Life of David Gale
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alan Parker
Produced by	Nicolas Cage Alan Parker
Written by	Charles Randolph
Starring	Kevin Spacey Kate Winslet Laura Linney
Music by	Jake Parker
Cinematography	Michael Seresin
Editing by	Gerry Hambling
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	February 18, 2003 (USA)
Running time	130 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50,000,000 (estimated)
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Life of David Gale is a 2003 motion picture that tells the fictional story of a philosophy professor, David Gale, who was dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty and who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a colleague and fellow abolitionist. The film was directed by Alan Parker and stars Kevin Spacey as Gale and Kate Winslet as Bitsey Bloom, the young journalist whom Gale commissions to prove his innocence. Laura Linney also stars as the victim. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Alan Parker on the set of Pink Floyd The Wall Sir Alan Parker (born February 14, 1944) is a British film director, producer, writer, and actor. ... Nicolas Cage (born Nicholas Coppola on January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. ... Alan Parker on the set of Pink Floyd The Wall Sir Alan Parker (born February 14, 1944) is a British film director, producer, writer, and actor. ... Kevin Spacey (born July 26, 1959) is a two time Academy Award winning American actor (film and stage) and director. ... Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born October 5, 1975) is a five time Academy Award-nominated Emmy Award-nominated BAFTA, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild Award winning English actress. ... Laura Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning American actress, active in movies, television, and theatre. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 2003 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Alan Parker on the set of Pink Floyd The Wall Sir Alan Parker (born February 14, 1944) is a British film director, producer, writer, and actor. ... Kevin Spacey (born July 26, 1959) is a two time Academy Award winning American actor (film and stage) and director. ... Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born October 5, 1975) is a five time Academy Award-nominated Emmy Award-nominated BAFTA, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild Award winning English actress. ... Laura Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning American actress, active in movies, television, and theatre. ...

Tagline: The crime is clear. The truth is not.

Plot summary

Some time before the current timeline of the movie, David Gale was the head of the philosophy department at the (fictional) University of Austin and the author of several well-regarded books; he was also an active and visible member of Deathwatch, an anti-capital punishment activist group. One night at a graduation party, an inebriated David was seduced by Berlin, an attractive student from his class; earlier he had refused her advances to raise her failing grade, resulting in her expulsion from school. She then used the physical evidence of their sexual encounter to falsely accuse Gale of rape in revenge. While Berlin dropped the charges and fled town shortly afterwards, the negative publicity cost him his career as an educator and activist, and his marriage; with no wife and no job, Gale turned to drinking.

One of Gale’s best friends was Constance Harraway, a fellow Deathwatch activist with whom he became particularly close, especially after Gale’s wife, Sharon, left with their son to Spain; the custody laws there favor the mother and her father was the American ambassador, effectively shutting Gale out of his child’s life. When Harraway was found raped and murdered a few years later, Gale was charged with the crime, and convicted despite the best efforts of his well-meaning but ineffectual lawyer Braxton Belyeu. Now Gale awaits execution, and less than a week before his date with the fatal injection, Gale agrees — for a substantial fee — to tell his story with Bitsey Bloom, a nervy journalist from a major newsmagazine who arrives with the office intern, Zack Stemmons. As Bloom discusses the facts of the Harraway murder with Gale, it becomes clear to her that the details simply do not add up. A mysterious stranger slips evidence to her that suggest Gale has been framed—leaving Bloom and Stemmons only a few days to solve the mystery and save Gale from execution. An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ...

As their investigation proceeds, the implication that the rapist videotaped the assault is replaced by the revelation that Harraway recorded herself committing suicide, since she was going to die soon regardless from an ongoing battle with cancer. The video showing the suicide isn’t found until moments before Gale’s death; in a frenzy, Bloom struggles by car, and then by foot to present the evidence to stop the execution. Unfortunately, she doesn’t reach the courthouse in time, and Gale dies an innocent man. The tape is released after his death, resulting in a media and political uproar.

In an epilogue, the mysterious stranger delivers Gale’s interview fee from the magazine to Gale’s wife in Spain, along with a postcard from Berlin confessing to and apologizing for the whole incident. Another videotape is delivered to Bloom, labeled “Off the Record”: Dusty Wright—the mysterious stranger, who once also belonged to Deathwatch but was asked to leave the organization due to his extremist beliefs, is the first to see Harraway’s body. Once it is confirmed that Harraway has died, he calls Gale. Once in her home, Gale intentionally leaves his thumbprint on the plastic bag which Harraway used to suffocate herself. This way he could be executed and then proven innocent (according to the first tape), giving evidence of the injustices in capital punishment. It appears that the three — and is implied that even Gale’s “ineffectual” attorney — meticulously planned everything.

Critical reception

The film was generally poorly received by critics upon its release. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, and stated, "I am sure the filmmakers believe their film is against the death penalty. I believe it supports it and hopes to discredit the opponents of the penalty as unprincipled fraudsters... But while Texas continues to warehouse condemned men with a system involving lawyers who are drunk, asleep or absent; confessions that are beaten out of the helpless, and juries that overwhelmingly prefer to execute black defendants instead of white ones, you can't make this movie. Not in Texas." However, his partner of Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper, did not hesitate in giving the movie their "Thumbs Up" trademark. Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ... Ebert & Roeper at the Movies (more commonly known as Ebert & Roeper) is a movie review television program featuring film critic Roger Ebert and columnist Richard Roeper, both of the Chicago Sun-Times. ...

• Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert gave the movie zero stars, his lowest rating. Wrote Ebert, "Spacey and Parker are honorable men. Why did they go to Texas and make this silly movie? The last shot made me want to throw something at the screen--maybe Spacey and Parker."^[1]

The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. ... Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ...

Filming locations

• Huntsville, Texas
• Sam Houston State University
• The University of Texas at Austin
• Metro Espresso Bar, 2222 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX
• Cain and Abel's

Huntsville is a city and also a newly designated micropolitan area located in the U.S. state of Texas within Walker County. ... Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University, (known as SHSU and Sam, for short) founded in 1879, is a university located in Huntsville, Texas. ... University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (full official name), often UT or Texas for short, is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System, the largest public university system in Texas, established in 1883. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Life of David Gale

• Official website
• The Life of David Gale at the Internet Movie Database
• The Life of David Gale at Rotten Tomatoes

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

1. ^ Reviews: The Life Of David Gale By Roger Ebert. February 21, 2003 (0 stars)