Licensed to Kill (1997), The Widow of Saint-Pierre (2000), The Green Mile (1999), Shot in the Heart (2001), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), The Execution of Wanda Jean (2002), The Thin Blue Line (1988), In Cold Blood (1967) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Death Penalty movies.
Storyline: In this documentary, homosexual filmmaker Arthur Dong interviews men who were imprisoned for slaying gays. Dong, who was physically attacked because of his own sexuality in the 1970s, tries to ascertain the convicts' motives -- why they would commit such heinous crimes. Some prisoners express remorse for their acts of violence, while others believe the murders they committed were justified. The interviewees include a U.S. military officer, a devout Christian and a petty thief.
Plot Keywords: documentary, crime, murder, true story, homosexuality, hate crime, usa ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A soldier's (Daniel Auteuil) wife (Juliette Binoche) takes in a man (Emir Kusturica) found guilty of murder and turns him into a respected citizen, while awaiting the arrival of a guillotine.
Plot Keywords: historical, drama, romance, french, 19th century, death penalty, moral dilemma ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Death Row guards at a penitentiary, in the 1930's, have a moral dilemma with their job when they discover one of their prisoners, a convicted murderer, has a special gift.
Plot Keywords: drama, fantasy, crime, prison, death penalty, supernatural, humanity ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The brother of condemned killer Gary Gilmore comes to terms with his brother's crimes and his family's violent legacy.
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, biography, true story, family, tragedy, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Berlinger and Sinofsky's documentary of a gruesome triple murder in West Memphis, Arkansas and the subsequent trials of three suspects, takes a hard look at both the occult and the American justice system in 'small-town' America. Three teenagers are accused of this horrific crime of killing three children, supposedly as a result of involvement in Satanism. As in their previous documentary, things turn out to be more complex than initial appearances and this film presents the real-life courtroom drama to the viewer, as it unfolds.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
Plot Keywords: crime, documentary, true story, murder, miscarriage of justice, courtroom, investigation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: "The Execution of Wanda Jean" chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen. By telling one woman's story, the film becomes an unforgettable exploration into one of America's most controversial moral and political dilemmas: the death penalty. "The Execution of Wanda Jean" is an unflinching investigation of the role that poverty, mental health, race, and sexuality play within the criminal justice system.
Plot Keywords: crime, documentary, true story, justice system, death penalty, race, gender ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas, Texas. Briefly, a drifter (Randall Adams) ran out of gas and was picked up by a 16-year-old runaway (David Harris). Later that night, they drank some beer, smoked some marijuana, and went to the movies. Then, their stories diverged. Adams claimed that he left for his motel, where he was staying with his brother, and went to sleep. Harris, however, said that they were stopped by police late that night, and Adams suddenly shot the officer approaching their car. The film shows the audience the evidence gathered by the police, who were under extreme pressure to clear the case. It strongly makes a point that the circumstantial evidence was very flimsy. In fact, it becomes apparent that Harris was a much more likely suspect and was in the middle of a crime spree, eventually ending up on Death Row himself for the later commission of other crimes. Morris implies that the DA's and the judge's desire for the death penalty in this case (for which Harris would have been ineligible because of his youth) made Adams a scapegoat on whom to pin this heinous crime.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
Plot Keywords: documentary, crime, true story, miscarriage of justice, murder, investigation, texas ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In meeting in Kansas, ex-cons Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are breaking several conditions of their respective paroles. The meeting, initiated by Dick, is to plan and eventually carry out a robbery based on information he had received from a fellow inmate about $10,000 cash being locked in a hidden safe in the home of the farming Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas. After the robbery, they plan on going to Mexico permanently to elude capture by the police. Each brings a necessary personality to the partnership to carry out the plan, Dick who is the brash manipulator, Perry the outwardly more sensitive but unrealistic dreamer with a violent streak under the surface. Perry literally carries all his dreams in a large box he takes with him wherever he goes. The robbery does not go according to plan in any respect, the pair who ultimately hogtie and execute all four members of the Clutter family, only coming away from the home with $43 in cash. As Perry and Dick go on the run, a murder ...
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, thriller, biographical, true story, murder, film noir ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1920, the anarchist Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco (Riccardo Cucciolla) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Gian Maria Volonté) are sentenced to death, falsely accused of a robbery and murder. Indeed they are condemned due to their political beliefs, in one of the most shameful and hypocrite judgments of the human history.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Plot Keywords: history, documentary, political, social justice, immigration, anarchism, trial ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1912, the notorious and violent prisoner Robert Franklin Stroud is transferred to the Leavenworth Prison convicted for murdering a man. When a guard cancels the visit of his mother, Elizabeth Stroud, due to a violation of the internal rules, he stabs and kills the guard and goes to trial three times. He is sentenced to be executed by the gallows, but his mother appeals to President Woodrow Wilson who commutes his sentence to life imprisonment. However, the warden, Harvey Shoemaker, decides to keep Stroud in solitary for the rest of his life. One day, Stroud finds a sparrow that has fallen from the nest in the yard and he raises the bird until it is strong enough to fly. Stroud finds a motivation for his life raising and caring for birds and becomes an expert in birds. He marries Stella Johnson and together they run a business, providing medicine developed by Stroud. But a few years after, Stroud is transferred to Alcatraz and has to leave his birds behind.
Plot Keywords: biography, drama, crime, prison, true story, usa, 1960s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Directed by multi-award winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, 'Beautiful City' is a cinematic gem not to be missed. Akbar has just turned eighteen. He has been held in a rehabilitation centre for committing murder at the age of sixteen when he was condemned to death. Legally speaking, he had to reach the age of eighteen so that the conviction could be carried out. Now, Akbar is transferred to prison to await the day of his execution. A'la, a friend of Akbar, who himself has undergone imprisonment for burglary, soon after his release tries desperately to gain the consent of Akbar's plaintiff so as to stop the execution. 'Beautiful City' is a simple film about the power of forgiveness.—IMVBox.com
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, social issues, death penalty, redemption, justice system, moral dilemma ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A powerful and thought-provoking true-story, "Just Mercy" follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan might have had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson.) One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx,) who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds-and the system-stacked against them.—Gregg Brilliant
Plot Keywords: legal, race, justice, wrongful conviction, death penalty, civil rights, lawyer ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: When anti-death-penalty activist David Gale is convicted and condemned to death for the murder of a colleague, reporter Bitsey Bloom sets out to learn the story behind Gale's crime. What she finds challenges her belief in Gale's guilt and, finally, in the justice system.
Plot Keywords: death penalty, wrongful conviction, moral dilemma, political conspiracy, suspense, ethics, social criticism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A convicted murderer on Death Row and the nun who befriends him. Through the portrayal of finely drawn characters and their interactions as the days, hours, and minutes tick down to the condemned man's execution, powerful emotions are unleashed. While Matthew Poncelet and Sister Prejean desperately try to gain a stay of execution from the governor or the courts, scenes are intercut from the brutal crime, gradually revealing the truth about the events that transpired. In addition to her temporal help, the nun also tries to reach out spiritually and assist as a guide to salvation.
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, death penalty, moral dilemma, redemption, religion, prison ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1924 Chicago, Artie Strauss and Judd Steiner are friends and fellow law students who both come from wealthy backgrounds. They have few true friends as they believe all their contemporaries are intellectually inferior. Within their relationship, Artie is the dominant and Judd the submissive who says he will do whatever Artie tells him. Although Judd acts intellectually arrogant to others, he also shows signs of weakness and reticence most evident to Artie. Part of their goal in life is to experience how it feels to do everything. As such, they plot to commit what they consider the perfect crime - a kidnapping and murder - not only so that they can experience the sense of killing for killing's sake, but also taunt the law with the knowledge of it and their superiority after the fact. They believe their crime is above the law. Their murder of young Paulie Kessler is not so perfect, with evidence at the scene uncovered by one of their law school colleagues, Sid Brooks, who also works for the Globe newspaper. As Artie and Judd try to manipulate their way out of how the evidence may implicate them, their manipulation ultimately backfires and they are charged with the murder. The most famed trial lawyer in town, Jonathan Wilk, is hired to defend the pair despite his atheism being against the families' sensibilities. Jonathan, renowned for his ability to manipulate juries, has to decide how best to defend his clients in the overwhelming face of evidence against them. The testimony of Ruth Evans, Sid's girlfriend, may have some impact on the trial's outcome.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, thriller, courtroom, based on true story, murder, psychological ...
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