Movies - The Life of David Gale

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	Movies - The Life of David Gale

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.

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."

The film was set at the fictional University of Austin.

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

Plot summary

David Gale was the head of the philosophy department at Austin University 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 of Gale's best friend was Constance Harraway, a fellow Deathwatch activist with whom he became especially close, partucularly since Gale's wife, Sharon, who had taken a lover in Spain, was usually absent. One night, David was seduced by an attractive student from his class, Berlin, who had too much to drink; later the remorseful student accused Gale of rape. While Gale was eventually cleared of the charges, the negative publicity cost him his career as an educator, and with no wife and no job, Gale turned to drink.

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 to tell his story with Bitsey Bloom, a nervy journalist from a major newsmagazine, who arrives with her assistant, Zack Stemmons. As Bloom discusses the facts of the Harraway murder with Gale, it occurs to her that the details simply do not add up, and soon 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 the excutioner.

Main cast

Kevin Spacey
- David Gale
Kate Winslet
- Bitsey Bloom
Laura Linney
- Constance Harraway
Lee Ritchey - Joe Mullarkey
Gabriel Mann
- Zack Stemmons
Matt Craven
- Dusty Wright
Rhona Mitra
- Berlin
Leon Rippy - Braxton Belyeu
Michael Crabtree - Governor Hardin

Filming locations

Huntsville, Texas
Sam Houston State University

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Life of David Gale ]

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