Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman (2006)
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75% of critics liked it
(53 reviews) -
79% of users liked it
(3,648 ratings)
The life and career of the last in a long line of highly praised British executioners is explored in this drama directed by Adrian Shergold and starring Timothy Spall in the role of Albert Pierrepoint. As a youth, Pierrepoint was discouraged from pursuing the family career by a mother who claimed… More The life and career of the last in a long line of highly praised British executioners is explored in this drama directed by Adrian Shergold and starring Timothy Spall in the role of Albert Pierrepoint. As a youth, Pierrepoint was discouraged from pursuing the family career by a mother who claimed that the horrific line of work spurned his father to take up drink before eventually ushering him to an early grave. Despite his father's adverse reaction to the job's more gruesome details, Albert still thinks that he has what it takes to make it as an executioner and is soon rising to the upper echelon of hangmen thanks to his speed on the job and unwavering humanity. Eventually called before General Montgomery so that he may employ his skills in dispensing the Nuremberg criminals, Pierrepoint earns the respect and admiration of his fellow Britons just as his experiences in Germany stir his increasingly troubled conscience and abolitionists set into motion a heated campaign aimed at bringing the practice of hanging to an end. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Adrian Shergold
- Written By
- Bob Jay Mills, Jeff Pope
- Genres
- Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Jun 1, 2007 Wide
- On DVD
- Oct 30, 2007
- Studio
- IFC First Take
Critic Reviews
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The key to the film is in the performances by Spall and Stevenson -- and by Marsan. The utter averageness of the characters, their lack of insight, their normality, contrasts with the subject matter in an unsettling way.
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Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
Grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.
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J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
The movie grows more compelling in the latter half as British public opinion turns against capital punishment and Pierrepoint begins to have his own doubts.
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Susan Walker, Toronto Star
The very title of this movie seems to message its doom. What could possibly be dramatic enough about Britain's last hangman to carry our interest over a 90-minute film? A whole lot, it turns out.
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Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
[The film's] grittiness instantly adds to the historically and socio-economically convincing picture of working-class Yorkshire in the last century.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Timothy Spall
as Albert Pierrepoint
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Juliet Stevenson
as Anne Fletcher
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Cavan Clerkin
as George Cooper
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Eddie Marsan
as Tish
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Christopher Fulford
as Charlie Sykes
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Ian Shaw
as Percy
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Maggie Ollerenshaw
as Mary Pierrepoint
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Claire Keelan
as Jessie Kelly
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Clive Francis
as Monty
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Sheyla Shehovich
as Irma Grese
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Keiran Flynn
as Neville
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Tobias Menzies
as Lt. Llewellyn
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Mary Stockley
as Ruth Ellis
