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Plot
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 best friends was Constance Harraway, a fellow Deathwatch activist with whom he became particularly close, especially after Gale 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 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 the date of his fatal injection, Gale agrees for a substantial fee to tell his story to Bitsy Bloom, a nervy journalist from a major news magazine 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 framedeaving Bloom and Stemmons only a few days to solve the mystery and save Gale from execution.
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 leukemia. The video showing the suicide isn found until moments before Gale death; in a frenzy, Bloom struggles by car, and then by foot to present the evidence to stop the execution. Unfortunately, she doesn 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 interview fee from the magazine to Gale wife in Spain, along with a postcard from Berlin confessing to and apologizing for the false rape accusation (his ex-wife looks distraught, knowing he told the truth and that she effectively stole their child away from him). Another videotape is delivered to Bloom, labeled "Off the Record": the tape shows Dusty Wright the mysterious stranger, who once also belonged to Deathwatch but was asked to leave the organization due to his extremist beliefs - confirming Harraway's death and then stepping aside to allow Gale, also present, to leave his thumb print 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 "ineffectual" attorney meticulously planned everything.
Cast
Kevin Spacey as David Gale
Kate Winslet as Bitsey Bloom
Rhona Mitra as Berlin
Laura Linney as Constance Harraway
Gabriel Mann as Zack Stemmons
Matt Craven as Dusty Wright
Jim Beaver as Duke Grover
Leon Rippy as Braxton Belyeu
Critical reception
Reviews were generally negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie had a 20% rating based on 152 reviews. On Metacritic, the movie had a score of 31 (Generally negative reviews) out of 100. Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, his lowest rating, 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." 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." However, Ebert's co-host on the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper, did not hesitate to give the movie a "thumbs up" rating. Likewise, Leonard Maltin gave the film a positive three-star (out of a possible four) rating , plastic window box .
Filming location , christmas tins .
Huntsville, Texas
Sam Houston State University
The University of Texas at Austin, Garrison Hall
Metro Espresso Bar, 2222 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX
Cain and Abel's Bar, Austin, TX
Gumbo's Louisiana Style Cafe
Soundtrack
Most recently, the soundtrack (composed by Alex and Jake Parker) has been used in various film trailers, specifically the track "The Life of David Gale". The score has been used in the trailers for World Trade Center, Munich, In the Valley of Elah, and most recently, Milk.
References
^ Critic compiler website Metacritic rated the film 31 out of 100, indicating "generally negative reviews." See Metacritic entry. Rotten Tomatoes gave it only a 20% "fresh" (positive) rating; only 15% among those the site identified as "Top Critics." See Rotten Tomatoes entry.
^ Reviews: The Life Of David Gale By Roger Ebert. February 21, 2003 (0 stars)
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 Allmovie
The Life of David Gale at Box Office Mojo
The Life of David Gale at Rotten Tomatoes
v d e
Films directed by Alan Parker
1970s
Bugsy Malone (1976) Midnight Express (1978)
1980s
Fame (1980) Shoot the Moon (1982) Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) Birdy (1984) Angel Heart (1987) Mississippi Burning (1988)
1990s
Come See the Paradise (1990) The Commitments (1991) The Road to Wellville (1994) Evita (1996) Angela's Ashes (1999)
2000s
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Categories: 2003 films | 2000s drama films | American drama films | English-language films | Mystery films | Crime drama films | Films directed by Alan Parker | Films set in Texas | Films shot anamorphically | Films with a capital punishment theme | Universal Pictures films
