MGM
Directed by Jack Smight
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)
Stacy Keach is a one-man executioner, taking his road show throughout the South. He treats the condemned as "clients" and tells them an eloquent story of the "fields of ambrosia" waiting on the other side to calm them down. He also makes a pretty good living. However, when his next client is a woman it turns his life upside down. He tries to delay her execution first by faking the theft of the chair, then by planning to fake her death. He raises cash to pay off the doctor by bringing a truck load of prostitutes to the prison. When the doctor demands more, he robs a bank but commits murder in the process. Convicted, he becomes his own client, reciting the story of the "fields of ambrosia" once again. Keach is the whole show here, his performance walking the line between comic and morose, much like the film itself. Certainly not for all tastes, but its dark humor will appeal to more adventuresome viewers.
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