Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman (2006)

75% of critics liked it
(52 reviews)
82% of users liked it
(3,471 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

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Adrian Shergold
Written By: Bob Jay Mills, Jeff Pope
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Jun 1, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Oct 30, 2007
Studio: IFC First Take

Critic Reviews

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.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
Grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.
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.
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.
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.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Very much a bookend to Vera Drake in its mixture of post war British reserve and ugly reality. [Actor] Spall makes it work, creating a little man with big and terrible secrets.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Plodding biopic.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
An empathetic portrait of a complicated figure, chronicling the mounting toll which his work in the gallows gradually took on his psyche and private life.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
A suitably sombre treatment of a sombre story, Pierrepoint is nevertheless a riveting drama, sketching out not only the salient facts of Albert Pierrepoint's life but the turmoil in which that life caused in his soul
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
Albert Pierrepoint single-handedly killed over 450 people in his career, dispatching most of them with an icy precision in less than 30 seconds.
Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
Avoiding the thornier issues around dabbling in a career choice as a kind of government sanctioned serial killer, hangman Pierrepoint instead boasts of his apparently unique talent for completing an execution in record seconds."
Matthew Sorrento, Film Threat
Spall is more than worthy of future leading roles.
Mike Russell, Oregonian
Overdramatizes Albert's 24-year career.
Harry Chotiner, culturevulture.net
Based on their press materials, they think they have made a film damning capital punishment and exploring Britain's most famous executioner. In fact, they haven't. But they have made a film of artistic beauty and endless fascination.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
There is a great deal of food for thought in a film that personalizes the effects of the death penalty on both the executed and the executioner.
Angela Baldassarre, Sympatico.ca
A genuine and skillful account of one of Britain's most morally ambiguous working-class characters.
Laura Clifford, rec.arts.movies.reviews
...a powerful pairing of work by two terrific actors [Spall and Stevenson].
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
A completely engaging film. It's all about performance, and Timothy Spall is riveting as the earnest hangman. If you're desperate for a movie that has nothing to do with sequels or product placement, look no further.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

Insightful character study of one of Britain's last executioners. In his lifetime, Albert Pierrepoint hung over 600 people, including several Nazi war criminals and Ruth Ellis (see <i>Dance With A Stranger</i>). Though he seemed outwardly detached, this film suggests… More
Insightful character study of one of Britain's last executioners. In his lifetime, Albert Pierrepoint hung over 600 people, including several Nazi war criminals and Ruth Ellis (see <i>Dance With A Stranger</i>). Though he seemed outwardly detached, this film suggests that Albert's unusual profession eventually took a tremendous toll on his psyche and deeply impacted his personal life.
jay n

Excellent performances, particularly Timothy Spall in the lead, highlight this story. A man of deep compassion who was able to perform the job of executioner, feeling that they had already been judged, by looking at it as a duty and providing the condemned with as quick end as… More
Excellent performances, particularly Timothy Spall in the lead, highlight this story. A man of deep compassion who was able to perform the job of executioner, feeling that they had already been judged, by looking at it as a duty and providing the condemned with as quick end as possible. Hardly a light entertainment this is more of a chamber piece for those who prefer realistic drama.
Anthony L

A great performance from Spall, everything else just seems like an afterthought! Would be a great theatre production!
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman" is about Albert Pierrepoint(Timothy Spall), the real life hangman who in over 20 years on the job starting in 1932 executed hundreds of people. Following in the footsteps of his father, Pierrepoint sought to best him by… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman" is about Albert Pierrepoint(Timothy Spall), the real life hangman who in over 20 years on the job starting in 1932 executed hundreds of people. Following in the footsteps of his father, Pierrepoint sought to best him by becoming more efficient while also tenderly caring for the bodies after death.(His constant refrain is that the murderers have paid for their sins.) But no matter how much we may try to delude ourselves, there is no humane way to put someone to death.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]With the countenance of an undertaker, Timothy Spall makes much of a rare chance to be the lead in this pointed character study that is especially interested in the dehumanizing effects of the death penalty, not only for the executioner but for us all. While excelling in its subtle approach for most of its length, the movie tries too hard to drive its point home towards the end, especially with a very predictable subplot. At the same time, the wonderful Juliet Stevenson is pushed further and further into thankless territory.[/font]