Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
55
Christmas Carol, A
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
33
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
xx
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
43
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
xx
WolfMan, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
46
44 Inch Chest
83
Ajami![]()
73
Amreeka
xx
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
84
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
48
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
68
Departures
62
District 13: Ultimatum
85
Education, An![]()
71
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
68
Girl on the Train, The
52
Killing Kasztner
74
Last Station, The
43
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
73
Me and Orson Welles
76
Messenger, The
57
Missing Person, The
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
xx
My Name is Khan
49
Nine
63
North Face
59
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
69
Red Riding Trilogy, The
29
Saint John of Las Vegas
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
77
Single Man, A
xx
Still Bill
76
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
19
To Save a Life
68
Town Called Panic, A
59
Until the Light Takes Us
57
Videocracy
65
Waiting for Armageddon
82
White Ribbon![]()
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Bob Mills
Jeff Pope
Directed by: Adrian Shergold
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 1, 2007
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: R for disturbing images, nudity and brief sexuality
Starring Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, and Eddie Marsan
Timothy Spall gives a devastating performance in the true-life story of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's most notorious hangman. (IFC)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TV Guide Ken Fox
British actor Timothy Spall gives a shattering performance as Albert Pierrepoint.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen
At once desperately grim and unnervingly gripping, providing an exacting sense of the detail and procedure that went into death by hanging.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This measured bio-production might be viewed as a lesser companion piece to "Vera Drake" -- although in the case of Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, all the period-piece tastefulness makes for a story more instructive than emotionally tangible.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
This is a riveting story about a man who for years moonlighted as an anonymous hangman while holding a day job as a wholesale grocery delivery man.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee
Invites viewers to think critically about such weighty concepts as justice, atonement and personal accountability.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Like its hero, the movie doesn't flinch for most of its running time.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
This 2005 feature has a drab "Masterpiece Theatre" feel, though Pierrepoint is a fascinating study in ethics: he takes pride in his work, wants his victims to die swiftly and painlessly, and considers hanging an absolution.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
In Pierrepoint:The Last Hangman Timothy Spall sinks his teeth into one of the juiciest roles of his career.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Like most television directors, Shergold is good with actors. Jowly, impassive and rigid with righteous dignity, Timothy Spall makes a wonderfully meticulous Pierrepoint.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Pierrepoint is worth seeing for Shergold's attention to process and for all the ghoulish details.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Dramatizes and occasionally overdramatizes Albert's 24-year career. For a while, it's a study of a decent man who puts his life into compartments so he can do terrible deeds.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
A peculiar little film -- grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
You have to wonder just how true to life the melodramatic depiction of these events is, especially since the film was made in partnership with TV's "Masterpiece Theater."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Pierrepoint is handsomely crafted and well-acted, but its sense of scale is as constricted as a noose.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jim G gave it a5:
Disappointing primarily because Spall has always been so dependable. Unfortunately, the role he is given here is johnny one-note: the weight of pierrepoint's conscience is there at the beginning at the end with no real dramatic build. The same can be same for the cinematography. No contrast is offered emotionally or visually.
