The Life of David Gale (2003)
Actors:
Kate Winslet (actress),
Nicolas Cage (producer),
Kevin Spacey (actor),
Amparo Moreno (actress),
Deborah Abbott (actress),
Laura Linney (actress),
Gabriel Mann (actor),
Marco Perella (actor),
Michael Schmid (actor),
Ryan Wickerham (actor),
Jim Beaver (actor),
Matt Craven (actor),
Alan Parker (actor),
Alan Parker (producer),
Guy East (producer),
Plot: 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.
Keywords: abandoned-swimming-pool, activist, adultery, alcoholic, alcoholic-relapse, alcoholics-anonymous, ambition, assisted-suicide, athenian-law, austin-texas
Genres:
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
Taglines: The crime is clear. The truth is not.
Quotes:
Braxton Belyeu: I'm no more afraid of the Grim Reaper than I am of a Presbyterian on Mother's Day.
David Gale: I fell of the wagon and hurt myself.
David Gale: They wanted me to die, knowing the key to my freedom was out there somewhere!
David Gale: Death is a gift.
David Gale: We spend our whole life trying to stop death. Eating, inventing, loving, praying, fighting, killing. But what do we really know about death? Just that nobody comes back. Then there comes a point - a moment - in life when your mind outlives its desires, its obsessions, when your habits survive your dreams, and when your losses... Maybe death is a gift. You wonder. All I can tell you is that by this time tomorrow I'll be dead. I know when. I just cannot say why. You have 24 hours to find out.
[Governor Hardin and David Gale are engaged in a debate on Batter's Box]::Governor Hardin: Alan, let me say something I always say and I'm gonna keep on saying. And that is that I HATE killin'. That's why my administration is willing to kill to stop it.::David Gale: So, you don't subscribe to the idea that 'a good state is the one that protects its most despised members?'::Governor Hardin: It's a nice liberal idea. But, like most nice liberal ideas, naive.::David Gale: It's a quote from you, Governor. From your first state attorney campaign::Governor Hardin: [flustered] You've got me, Professor. But let me, in my defense, offer YOU a quote. Winston Churchill: 'If you're not a liberal at twenty, you have no heart, if you're still a liberal at thirty, you've got no brain.' [studio audience laughs]::David Gale: So, basically, you feel, to choose another quote, 'society must be cleansed of elements which represent its own death.'::Governor Hardin: Well, yes. I'd have to agree. [laughs] Did I say that too?::David Gale: No, that was Hitler.
Bitsey Bloom: Of course he sympathizes with murderers... he is one!
David Gale: How do we start?::Bitsey Bloom: We start with... you telling me what I'm doing here.::David Gale: No one who looks through that glass sees a person. They see a crime. I'm not David Gale. I'm a murderer and a rapist... four days shy of his execution.
Constance Harraway: You wanna tell me what's up?::David Gale: Nothing. Everything. Something profoundly stupid happened last night.::Constance Harraway: I hope you used a condom.::[David looks at Constance]::Constance Harraway: Oh Jesus Christ, David. Was she one of yours?::David Gale: It was Berlin.::Constance Harraway: Oh great! Oh, that's great. I can hear the grapevine now. "They had to suspend her so that Gale could dick her with a conscience." A power differential equals coercion. That is great. You're so weak!::David Gale: You know, you're not my wife, Constance. Thank God!::Constance Harraway: Oh, well, don't worry. It's not a position I aspire to, so fuck you.
Berlin: Sorry about being late. There was, you know, a thing.::David Gale: Yeah, there usually is, Berlin.::Berlin: Look, I know I'm not doing too well, and, to torture a cliché, I will do anything to pass.::David Gale: Anything, huh?::Berlin: Any. Thing.::David Gale: Ok, Berlin. [leans in close] I will give you a good grade, I will give you a very, very good grade if you just (whispers into her ear) study.