Quicknation, comprehensive information and links about The Life of David Gale

The Life of David Gale is a 2003 motion picture that tells the fictional story of a philosophy professor, David Gale, who was dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty and who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a colleague and fellow abolitionist. The film was directed by Alan Parker and stars Kevin Spacey as Gale and Kate Winslet as Bitsey Bloom, the young journalist whom Gale commissions to prove his innocence. Laura Linney also stars as the victim.

The film was generally poorly received by critics upon its release. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, and stated, "I am sure the filmmakers believe their film is against the death penalty. I believe it supports it and hopes to discredit the opponents of the penalty as unprincipled fraudsters... But while Texas continues to warehouse condemned men with a system involving lawyers who are drunk, asleep or absent; confessions that are beaten out of the helpless, and juries that overwhelmingly prefer to execute black defendants instead of white ones, you can't make this movie. Not in Texas."

The movie was set at the fictional Austin University.