Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (2005)

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Great performances, especially from Timothy Spall, and delightfully not one terrible supporting role. Entirely believable all along. I wasn't even too disappointed in the one dream sequence.. Well filmed and each individual scene well edited, but... the entire film gets lost in the flaw of the typical biopic: too wide ranging. Trying to cover too much of the original topic, the story ends up a series of vignettes, hamhandedly points out key moments in history, gets unfocused and it had to go out of it's way to explicitly bring up the point they were getting to. There were some great stories in here, and I have to believe they could have narrowed it to just, say, the moral conflict that emerges after the Tish "job."

This 2005 film stars 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet' actor Timothy Spall as Britain's most efficient and prolific hangman, Albert Pierrepoint.Grocery man Albert, married to Annie (Juliet Stevenson), lives a fairly normal life, except his Father and Uncle are hangmen. In 1932, the time comes for Albert to follow in the family footsteps. He manages his early jobs without gaining recognition, such as the execution of the murderer Dorothea Waddingham (Lizzie Hopley). By 1945, Albert has gained a reputation as the most efficient hangman in the country, leading to him being selected to fly to Germany and carry out the execution of around 200 Nazi war criminals, due to their part in the Holocaust. He becomes well known in the British press, seen by the newspapers as something of a hero. But how will the quiet Albert deal with this sudden fame and will it affect his ability to pull off capital punishment?This was a powerful bit of cinema, very thought provoking. As expected, Spall puts in an outstanding performance as Pierrepoint. I particularly liked his moral standards, such as during the day he had to execute thirteen Nazi war criminals. Only twelve coffins were at the prison and he was told just to put the last one 'in the ground'. He refuses to do this, stating this man has paid the price for what he's done and he will be buried with dignity. As predicted, Albert can't deal with the sudden rush of fame (both positive and negative publicity) and things come to a head when he executes his friend Tish (Eddie Marsan) who murdered his ex-girlfriend. He can no longer live with being a hangman and resigns.The film ends with a note saying Pierrepoint died an opponent of capital punishment. It didn't act as a deterrent, only a form of revenge. I have to say, I agree and am glad capital punishment was finally abolished in 1965. If one looks at the current case of Ian Brady, the Moors Murderer who clearly wants to die, then it is doing some good keeping him alive. Hanging would be way too good for him.

Albert Pierrepoint is determined to carry on in the time-honored tradition of his family. That's why, like his father and uncle before him, Pierrepoint has trained to become one of England's premier executioners, a man who approaches his grim job with the utmost professionalism, priding himself on using scientific precision to make his hangings the quickest and most "humane" in all the world. Indeed, with his careful calibrations and emotional detachment, he manages to turn capital punishment into nothing short of an art form. So sterling is his reputation, in fact, that he is called upon by none other than Field Marshall Montgomery himself to supervise the hanging of dozens of convicted Nazi leaders after the war. This elevates Pierrepoint to something of a national celebrity in the eyes of a war-weary, revenge-crazed public, a position he neither craves for himself nor truly knows how to cope with, for it calls into question the dignity of the entire profession.Based on a true story, "Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman" offers a fascinating glimpse into a rarely explored, though frequently reviled, profession and the type of man best fit to carry it out. Filled with insight and depth and - dare we say it? - a certain amount of "gallow's humor," the movie makes no moral judgment on Pierrepoint as a person (at least until he does so himself); for much of the film, he is simply a man doing his job to the best of his capabilities, primarily concerned with making the exit from this world as speedy and painless a one for the men and women on the other end of the rope as is humanly possible. Pierrepoint refuses to see his "victims" as anything but human beings who, for that reason alone and regardless of what heinous crime they might have committed to have brought them to this point, deserve at least a modicum of dignity and respect in their final moments on earth. And he's determined to give at least that much to them. But no man can remain completely detached from the business he chooses to engage in, especially when it is as grim as this one is, and eventually Pierrepoint has to come to terms with the things he's seen and the things he's done in the course of that chosen profession. That day of reckoning is brought about by a strange twist of fate that sends Pierrepoint reeling, forcing him to reexamine what it is exactly he's so proudly and meticulously dedicated his life to.As written by Bob Mills and Jeff Pope and directed by Adrian Shergold, "Pierrepoint" is itself so detached in spirit and tone - at least in its first two-thirds - that it becomes an ironic commentary on the dehumanization that lies at the very heart of capital punishment. But then, without making a fuss of it or in any way grinding its tonal gears, the movie, in its final half-hour, turns into an emotionally devastating plea against continuing the practice of state-approved killing (which England did, in fact, do in 1965), as seen through the eyes of one man who got to experience it up-close-and-personal.As Pierrepoint, Timothy Spall delivers a performance that can only be termed a masterpiece of internalized understatement, while Juliet Stevenson is his perfect match as the subtly avaricious wife who is both supportive of what he is doing and secretly repelled by it at one and the same time.On every level possible, this is a truly extraordinary work.

PIERREPOINT: THE LAST HANGMAN is one of those films that emerges from the cracks in the theater 'failures' only to find its poignant message when released on DVD. Granted, the idea of a story based on England's most famous executioner doesn't immediately catch the interest of the general audience, but for those fortunate enough to either rent or buy this DVD, the rewards are plentiful. It is a little masterpiece of writing, acting, directing and production values.Albert Pierrepoint was the third man in his family to 'ascend' to the list of executioners (capital punishment in England at the time was by hanging), and when he is accepted to the list in 1932 he begins what became the longest and most prolific career of British executioners. He took enormous pride in his work, assuring his peers as well as his 'victims' that every aspect of his job was done with obsessive professionalism: his timing of his duties was the shortest on record, meaning that from the moment he opened the door to the condemned prisoner's room through the hooding and noose placement and tripping of the platform and subsequent death of the 'criminal', he spared suffering as much as was feasible. He was supported by a wife who kept the secret of her husband's anonymous role and it was only when the Pierrepoint's pride in his job became known that downfall of their lives is threatened. At times adored by the public for his assignment to hand the Nazi criminals and the famous murderers and eventually the target of the anti capital punishment activists, Pierrepoint's professionalism sustained him until a final tragic assignment changed his view of his job.Timothy Spall is splendid as Pierrepoint, capturing all of the nuances of the simple, honest man's pride as well as his Achilles' heel. Juliet Stevenson turns in yet another understated and completely realized role as Pierrepoint's wife. Director Adrian Shergold, using a script written by Bob Mills and Jeff Pope, paces the film sensitively, drawing on the atrocious duties involved in the job of executioner (they actually had to prepare the bodies of the dead victims for the morticians!) along with the moments of pub frivolity to allow the audience to understand the true person Timothy Spall absorbs in his portrayal of Pierrepoint. The sets and lighting and cinematography could not be better. This is a film to view and absorb and appreciate the superior quality of acting of Spall and Stevenson. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp