Gary Gilmore - Cultural Impact

Cultural Impact

As Gilmore was the first person in the United States executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, his story had immense cultural resonance at the time, and it continues to echo in the works of writers, artists and even advertisers to this day.

Before his execution, the December 11, 1976, episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live (Season 2, Episode 10) featured guest host Candice Bergen and the cast singing a Christmas-themed medley entitled "Let's Kill Gary Gilmore For Christmas". Dressed in winter attire and surrounded by fake snow, the performers sang the medley of familiar Christmas carols with altered lyrics. Lyrics set to "Winter Wonderland" included this line: "In the meadow we can build a snowman / One with Gary Gilmore packed inside / We'll ask him, 'Are you dead yet?' He'll say, 'No, man' / But we'll wait out the frostbite till he dies." A later episode of 'Saturday Night Live, on October 20, 1979, featured guest host Eric Idle performing impersonations while strapped to a stretcher, assisted by orderlies. With the stretcher standing on end, Idle covered his eyes with a black blindfold and announced it as an impersonation of Gary Gilmore.

Other television comedies have referred to the Gilmore execution, specifically his final words, "Let's do it." The Seinfeld episode "The Jacket" originally included a reference to Gary Gilmore's final words, but the scene was changed during the final shoot. In the deleted scene, Jerry is trying to decide upon buying the titular jacket, when he remarks to Elaine: "Well, in the immortal words of Gary Gilmore 'Let's do it.'" On the Roseanne episode "The Wedding", Roseanne's daughter Darlene is asked if she is ready to get married. Darlene responds with a similar punchline, "Well in the words of Gary Gilmore, 'Let's do it!'". On NYPD Blue, Andy Sipowicz cracks "Let's do it," as his wedding is about to begin, then explains further, "That's what that guy in Utah said...'Let's do it.' He said that to the firing squad just before they whacked him."

The founder of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, Dan Wieden credits the inspiration for his "Just Do It" Nike slogan to Gary Gilmore’s last words.

Gilmore's story was documented in Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Executioner's Song (1979). Notable not only for its portrayal of Gilmore and the anguish surrounding the murders he committed, the book also took a central position in the national debate over the revival of capital punishment. Another writer to blend fact with fiction was the Colombian writer Rafael Chaparro Madiedo, who made Gary Gilmore one of the main characters of his 1992 National Prize Novel Opio en las Nubes.

In 1982, The Executioner's Song was adapted by Mailer for a television movie of the same name starring Tommy Lee Jones as Gilmore, and co-starring Christine Lahti, Eli Wallach and Rosanna Arquette. Jones won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Gilmore. Gilmore's brother's memoir Shot in the Heart was also made into an HBO movie. Another film related influence was artist Matthew Barney's Cremaster 2 (1999), in which Gilmore was made the main character of the second part of The Cremaster Cycle, a series of five films. Gilmore, played by an actress this time, appears in the beginning of Cremaster 3 in a metamorphosed form.

Jack Nicholson's performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice was reportedly inspired in part by Gilmore.

Many musicians have explored the Gilmore case. In 1977, The Adverts had a top 20 hit in the UK with the song "Gary Gilmore's Eyes". The lyrics describe an eye donor recipient realizing his new eyes came from the executed murderer. The song was later covered by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen and a country version of the song was recorded by Dean Schlabowske. Also in 1977, New York City experimental punk band Chain Gang released the song "Gary Gilmore and the Island of Dr. Moreau" as the B-side to their single "Son of Sam" about a contemporary serial killer that was still at large. The Police's song "Bring on the Night", from their 1979 album Reggatta de Blanc, speculated on Gary Gilmore's possible feelings on the evening before the execution took place. In 1980, The Judy's released the song "How's Gary?" on their album Wonderful World of Appliances. The song presumably asks Gary Gilmore's mother what's wrong with him, saying that he never comes out to play anymore; the song also inquires about the holes in his vest and why he is wearing a blindfold.

Several playwrights have also integrated the Gilmore story into their work in one way or another. The Oakland-based performance artist Monte Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of the execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions/Throbbing Gristle members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution. In Christopher Durang's play Beyond Therapy (1983), the character Bruce claims that he "Wanted to see Gary Gilmore executed on television." The Welsh playwright Dic Edwards dramatised Gilmore's life in his 1995 play Utah Blue.