Execution of Justice film -- all Dan White, little Harvey Milk

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:24am

Just rewatched the film version of EXECUTION OF JUSTICE on Logo, which is decidedly more Movie-of-the-Week than the theatrical collage about the media/violence culture brilliantly written by Emily Mann. Despite Timothy Daly's terrific work as assassin Dan White ... isn't it interesting how this dark story is all about the killer, and not the firebrand who died?

In a week after the firestorm over NBC showing the footage of Cho, it was startling to see a film treatment of a critical slice of civil rights history devoted almost entirely to the mind of the man who killed two people in cold blood. We still don't get very much about Milk -- despite a lovely performance by Peter Coyote. This was a man with a partner (an extra in this film) and a coterie of loving friends and family. But we get a cute TV star -- Daly -- playing a vicious, bitter nut case for two hours. As riveted as I was, I couldn't help but notice the focus/weight issue in the aftermath of an outry about turning a serial killer into a media star.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:26am

Maybe they took a different approach since the Oscar-winning HARVEY MILK documentary already covered Milk's story.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:35am

Understood, but the audience for a dramatization is much larger than a documentary, Michael Moore's oeuvre aside. And I couldn't help but recall the years a Harvey Milk story was in development -- one with Carol Burnett's production company -- without ever being made

Maybe it's time for a Milk film? There has been an opera, but this movie reminded me that the focus so often is on our fascination with murderers. We saw Dan White's wife portayed with dimension, but none of the gay characters. Again, it's not poorly done, and Logo is certainly right to remind us of this tragedy. But it's Dan White's story, and with his suicide the final event, we are left with HIS journey, his pain, his fatherless children, etc.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:38am

There are two Milk films in production - one is by Gus Van Sant and I heard (you know how things change) that Robin Williams is up for/ cast as Milk.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:43am

In all seriousness, Kevin Spacey wouldn't be bad.

But it's time, if not overdue.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:45am

And what does this have to do with Rosie?

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:46am

Taz - she will be playing Dan White! Sheesh!

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:47am

I think the focus on Dan White is because it has such utter Greek tragic dimensions. Talk about the furies coming home...

The Van Sant/Oliver Stone/Robin Williams pic has been in discussion for at least a decade now.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:51am

Yes Borstal - but last weekend a rival director (I will try and find the article) threw his hat in the ring and it's caused Van Sant to step it up. I can't think of who the rival director is right now - I have left way too many brain cells along the Ca Coast I guess!
ETA - I found an article (Not the one I saw over the weekend though) - the Director is Brian Singer.
Singer to beat Van Sant to the punch?

Updated On: 4/25/07 at 11:51 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 12:01pm

I don't think I ever saw the movie, but I loved the stage production. If memory serves, it was Dan White heavy as well.

It would be great if future Milk stories could avoid the canonization of St. Harvey, but I am not sure how that would be possible.

For me, The Times of Harvey Milk documentary will always be definitive (even though it too is a canonization). I happened to drive to another city on the afternoon it opened, which happened to be the day Reagan was re-elected.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 12:16pm

I can understand Mann's work being White heavy. It was about the trial, the process and the twinky defense and not about Milk.
I only hope that the Mayor of Castro Street makes it to the screen without Robin Williams having anything to do with it, unless he is a producer.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 12:33pm

The Mann stage production was trial-focused in terms of the dramatic event which defined the story, but it had a wide ranging, collage-like approach, with Sister Boom-Boom addressing the audience, introducing other points of view, creating a cross-section of citizens, images and resulting emotions. I have the text, and just looked at it again. This movie necessarily eliminated a lot of the contextural material -- granted, in the interest of telling a story with a through-line, and sustaining a focus.

I'm not arguing against the approach's structural viability, or craft. Just commenting on how the story the killer's whys and wherefores got more texture and depth than the indiviudals he shot. To me, somewhat relevant issues only a week after Oprah devoted a show to "Should NBC Have Shown the Cho Footage." In this film, there are countless scenes devoted to Dan White's rage and and feelings of marginalization -- eerily, the focus of all our post-Blacksburg reportage about Cho.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:00am

How did they handle the "Twinkie Defense" in the movie?