Adrian Shergold's The Last Hangman, an account of the career of Albert Pierrepoint (Timothy Spall), Britain's final executioner, is a superior work.

| Feb 15, 2021

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Plodding biopic.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 17, 2009

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 7, 2007

The key to the film is in the performances by Spall and Stevenson -- and by Marsan. The utter averageness of the characters, their lack of insight, their normality, contrasts with the subject matter in an unsettling way.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 2, 2007

A suitably sombre treatment of a sombre story, Pierrepoint is nevertheless a riveting drama, sketching out not only the salient facts of Albert Pierrepoint's life but the turmoil in which that life caused in his soul

| Oct 9, 2007

Albert Pierrepoint single-handedly killed over 450 people in his career, dispatching most of them with an icy precision in less than 30 seconds.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 7, 2007

Conceived as a television film, this recreation of the life and times of hangman Albert Pierrepoint is both unfalteringly grim and mesmerisingly watchable.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 1, 2007

Spall is more than worthy of future leading roles.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2007

Overdramatizes Albert's 24-year career.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 13, 2007

Based on their press materials, they think they have made a film damning capital punishment and exploring Britain's most famous executioner. In fact, they haven't. But they have made a film of artistic beauty and endless fascination.

| Jul 10, 2007

Grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 22, 2007

The movie grows more compelling in the latter half as British public opinion turns against capital punishment and Pierrepoint begins to have his own doubts.

| Jun 21, 2007

There is a great deal of food for thought in a film that personalizes the effects of the death penalty on both the executed and the executioner.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 19, 2007

A genuine and skillful account of one of Britain's most morally ambiguous working-class characters.

| Jun 18, 2007

...a powerful pairing of work by two terrific actors [Spall and Stevenson].

| Original Score: B | Jun 16, 2007

The very title of this movie seems to message its doom. What could possibly be dramatic enough about Britain's last hangman to carry our interest over a 90-minute film? A whole lot, it turns out.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2007

A completely engaging film. It's all about performance, and Timothy Spall is riveting as the earnest hangman. If you're desperate for a movie that has nothing to do with sequels or product placement, look no further.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 15, 2007

[The film's] grittiness instantly adds to the historically and socio-economically convincing picture of working-class Yorkshire in the last century.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2007