Dead Man Walking

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Superbly adapted and directed by Tim Robbins from the nonfiction book of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, this spiritually enlightened drama is too intelligent to traffic in polemics or self-righteous pontifications against the death penalty. But in examining the issue of capital punishment from a humanitarian perspective, the film urges thoughtful reflection on the justifications for legally ending a human life. Although it features a fine supporting cast, the film maintains its sharp focus through flawless lead performances by Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon as the Catholic nun Prejean, and Sean Penn as the death-row killer she struggles to save. Robbins avoids a biased message, letting the movie examine both sides of the issue instead (R. Lee Ermey gives a fine performance as the grief-stricken father of one of Penn's victims). As the drama unfolds and Penn's execution deadline grows near, Dead Man Walking is graced by compelling depths of theme and character, achieving an emotional impact that demands further reflection and removes the stigma of piousness from socially conscious filmmaking. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Inspired by the true story of a nun's relationship with a condemned man, this provocative examination of crime, punishment and redemption earned Susan Sarandon the 1995 OscarÂ(r) for Best Actress and Sean Penn an OscarÂ(r) nomination for Best Actor. Dead Man Walking is a "fast-moving and absorbing" film filled with "genuine suspense" (Variety) that will leave you awe-struck from beginning to end. Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon), a compassionate New Orleansnun, is the spiritual advisor to Matthew Poncelet (Penn), a vicious, angry and complex murderer awaiting execution. Her dedication is to help others, like Matthew, find salvation. But as she attemptsto navigate Matthew's dark soul, she encounters a depth of evil that makes her question how far redemption can really go. Can she stave off the fateful day of execution long enough to save Matthew, or will she discover a truth that will rock the very foundation by which she lives her life?

Customer Reviews:

You don't have to be for or against the death penalty to find this picture riveting and thought-provoking........2007-08-29

"Dead Man Walking" is Sean Penn at his very best. He should have won an Oscar for his portrayal of convicted murderer, Matthew Poncelet. Susan Sarandon played Sister Prejean perfectly. This movie is sad, shocking, tragic and very informative. But, you don't have to be for or against the death penalty to find this picture riveting and thought-provoking.

Dead Man Walking.......2007-07-11

Adapted from Sister Helen Prejean's non-fiction book by actor/director Tim Robbins, "Dead Man Walking" is an intense, harrowing account of one woman's dogged attempt to assure spiritual (if not earthly) redemption for a condemned killer. Penn is ideally cast as the convict, but Susan Sarandon's stripped-down performance as his spiritual guide is courageous, gut-wrenching work, fully meriting that year's Oscar. Unavoidably depressing, "Dead Man Walking" is also very real, shedding light into spaces we could easily ignore, but shouldn't.

"In Louisiana life means life!".......2007-05-14

Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon have distinguished themselves as two of the best actors of their generation. And in this movie, they both seemed to do it at the same time and in the same scenes. This film had the courage to explore issues within issues with guts. For example: Who grieves for the victimizers family? After this triumph why Tim Robbins doesn't direct more often is a mystery. Without a doubt Dead Man Walking is absolutely one of the best cinematic collaborations ever made. BRAVO!

Well done.......2007-04-14

"Dead Man Walking" deals with one nun's struggle to help a convicted death row inmate come to terms with his imminent execution. Writer-director Tim Robbins does something very difficult in this film, he makes us care about the unsympathetic character that Penn plays. Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn dominate the film in every aspect imaginable, they play a complicated chess match at times and eventually become close friends by the end of the picture. The fact that Sarandon and Robbins are openly against the death penalty in real life just adds to this film. Their strong opinion on the subject leads to an unforgettable motion picture that is made well and performed well by the two leads. Of course, no film is 100% unbiased, especially when it comes to such serious issues as these, but I liked it. Features one of the most chilling and realistic scenes of an execution ever to be captured on celluloid. Based on the book by Helen Prejean (the real-life nun, who appears briefly outside the prison during a candlelight vigil scene).

Death Penalty.......2007-04-11

This film affirmed my postition on the death penalty. It is unequaly applied. People without money are often convicted wrongly. Read the book by Sr. Prejean. pax, robbie

The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition)

Average customer rating:

View it as a simple thriller/mystery or in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment
Something Was Missing
One of the great undiscovered flicks.
Worth watching
very good

The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Kevin Spacey , Kate Winslet , Laura Linney , Vernon Grote , and Constance Jones
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
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ASIN: B00005JLZN
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Product Description

Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) stars with Oscar nominee Kate Winslet (Titanic) in a powerfully gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller hailed as provocative (ABC-TV). An electrifying suspenseful journey into deadly conspiracy and murderous deception begins when a respected professor who may or may not be guilty is charged with a brutal crime. The Life of David Gale is a brilliantly unpredictable thriller, which builds relentlessly to a shocking final twist guaranteed to blow you away!

System Requirements:

Starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney

Directed by Alan Parker

Running time: 2 Hours 11 Minutes

Amazon.com

Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) plays David Gale, a brilliant but hard-drinking anti-death penalty crusader on death row for a rape and murder that he claims he didn't commit. The victim of the crime is Gale's close friend and anti-death penalty colleague (Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me), so Gale argues that he's been set up to discredit the cause. Committed journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet, Titanic) takes it upon herself to figure the whole thing out--and so we follow her through a ridiculous plot full of supposedly shocking twists that are telegraphed far in advance and make very little sense when they arrive. The overwritten script tries to cover too many hot-button issues and gives Spacey way too many showy scenes where he gets to be passionate and caring, which is creepier than his psychopath roles in The Usual Suspects and Seven. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

View it as a simple thriller/mystery or in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment.......2007-07-06

The Life of David Gale is a movie about the last days of David Gale, an anti-death penalty activist and college philosophy professor sitting on death row for the rape and murder of a colleague. For reasons that are never entirely clear, he grants three doomsday interviews to a young, energetic, principled reporter named Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet). Bitsey travels to Texas's death row to visit Gale in the last three full days of his life. Gale implies that framing a liberal activist for murder is the ultimate triumph, and dangles before Bitsey clues to unraveling his innocence. He doesn't want her to get him off in a last minute stay, but he does want her to keep his legacy alive and continue to research his case.

The movie is no Dead Man Walking, nor is it a clear liberal rant against capital punishment. It's a thriller/mystery that can be viewed as just that (with a few forced twists and plot holes), or it can be considered in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment in a death-happy state like Texas. It's a movie about human foibles and their cost to our families. Laura Linney, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Winslet deliver top notch performances.

Something Was Missing.......2007-03-22

I don't know quite how to put it. The Life of David Gale is certainly a message film sprinkled with suspense, but the ending left me bewildered. Why did the murder suspect mail Bitsey a second tape that showed David Gale involved with the suicide? Other questions I raise are: What motive did Berlin have for charging Gale with rape? Why did Gale's wife and son flee to Italy or was it Spain? Is Gale's situation so hopeless that he decides to die for the cause? Gale and the murder suspect didn't seem to have a strong bond of friendship, yet what would compel the murder suspect to travel to Europe with a suitcase of money and make sure that Gale's wife receives it? Does anyone have any answers? The film is complex with its layers of left wing politics, morality plays, and Hitchcockian twists, but still comes up short. A classic film that contrasts innocence with guilt without the death penalty issue is The Wrong Man starring Henry Fonda.

One of the great undiscovered flicks........2007-03-21

Just one of those great movies that didnt get the recognition that it deserved. Of course, Kevin Spacey is one of the best actors of his time in my opinion, but overall this movie is a must see.

Worth watching.......2007-02-10

This was a film of two intentions - a thriller, and a message movie. It is a worthy intention to put the message into some context as a thriller to make it palatable; it makes the medicine easier to swallow. However the film is beset by a problem of balance .. Where the thriller slacks off, the message seems too in your face, and where the thriller takes off it seems too shallow for want of the message.
Alan Parker handled the balance so much better in Mississippi Burning, that if you came to this expecting the same standard you would be very disappointed.
However, the cast do adequately, and Spacey and Linney do brilliantly, adding the depth that makes the film engrossing enough to enjoy watching.
Those who are expecting the film to hold its own as a thriller will be disappointed however.

very good.......2007-01-23

This movie is well written and the acting is great. Yet Again, Kevin Spacey gives a great performance. His job being a drunk philosphy prof. walking down the street loudly lecturing people as they happen to walk by is simply brillant. Kate Winslet is very convincing as a sympathic journalist. The writing is original and thoughtful. It has a great premise with a even greater and suprising ending. I was pleasantly suprised by this movie.

Average customer rating:

Unbelievable Story
Very good movie, tough getting through the prison scenes!
Wonderful film. Good moral questions. And absolutely great story!
OSCAR???
Moral Passion Play Turns Into Tepid Romantic Melodrama--Too Bad

Return to Paradise
Starring: Vince Vaughn , Anne Heche , Joaquin Phoenix , David Conrad , and Vera Farmiga
Director: Joseph Ruben
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
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ASIN: B00007ELEY
Release Date: 2002-11-05

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In Malaysia, three young Americans with little else in common are united in a shared enthusiasm for beer, women, and righteous hashish. Eventually, "Sheriff" (Vince Vaughn) and Tony (David Conrad) head back to New York. Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix), a spacey but good-hearted sort, stays on with the notion of helping save the orangutans. Two years later, a brassy lawyer (Anne Heche) shows up in Manhattan with the news that her client, Lewis, has spent the interim in Penang prison. Arrested for a prankish misdemeanor they all shared in, he's taking the rap for something worse: the dope stash they left him holding was a fatal few grams over the limit. Unless his fellow Americans return voluntarily to (literally) share the weight, in eight days Lewis will be hanged as a drug trafficker.

Eight days is about as long as Return to Paradise stayed on theater screens--the victim, perhaps, of Anne Heche-Ellen DeGeneres burnout in the press, or just too damn many movies out there to keep track of. Whatever the reason, it's a pity, because this is one of the most compelling movie-movies in recent memory. The screenplay turns the ethical-psychological thumbscrews with insidious effectiveness, despite the probability that the two writers brought separate agendas to the project--Wesley (Cape Fear) Strick working the complicity of the two home boys (each represents the halving of the other's prison sentence if they both agree to go back), and Bruce (The Killing Fields) Robinson revving his engines for another face-off of implacable East and irresponsible West. And director Joseph Ruben, specialist in serving up B-movie excitement with class-A skill (Dreamscape, The Stepfather), does his sleekest work yet.

But the real news is a trio of career-best performances: Phoenix, harrowing as a child-man whose sanity has been all but eaten away by terror; Vaughn limning a fascinating portrait of a man at war with himself, self-interest and furtive decency seesawing in his conscience; and Heche, part cagey poker player, part angel of mercy, mixing strength, delicacy, and desperation with devastating precision. Oscar blinked, three times. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Unbelievable Story.......2007-04-18

I would not reccommend this movie because I found the story unbelievable. There were no real substantial characters in it. The so-called characters were manipulated here and there to fulfill the demands of a preconceived plot. Vaughn acted not out of his beliefs and necessity but by what seemed to feel good at the moment, which was an obvious way for the writer to stretch out the movie.

The acting was only fair, but then what can you expect when the characters aren't given any solidness--depth, attitudes, understandings. Vaughn's "character", throughout the second act, keeps flip-flopping about returning to Malaysia until he has a bout of sex--Heche's manipulation, Vaughn's pleasure--and agrees to go. His so-called transformation near the end--becomming so compassionate and affectionate toward his friend in prison (Phoenix)--of the film was equally unbelievable. Real, believable change is often preceded by some ordeal or trauma that enables one to understand first hand the suffering of another. Only at the very end does this happen, but it should have happened much earlier for his change to be believed, from which a desire to save his friend should have developed, and not by some gratuitous sex affair.

Very good movie, tough getting through the prison scenes!.......2006-11-27

I stumbled onto this movie today, and decided what the heck, it was nothing else on anyway. Very emotionally charged film, and great acting, especially by Joaquin Phoenix. I have seen him in other movies, but this was a very good performance by him. It was really tough to watch the prison and courtroom scenes, especially that last prison scene with Vince Vaughn. It was hard not to cry. I walked away from the TV twice because the scene was so intense. What I really liked about the movie is how it slowly reeled you in at just the right pace. There were never dull moments, and made you that more curious to see how it would end. It also left you thinking about your own morality and friendships. I plan to buy this movie and add it to my collection, again Great Movie!

Wonderful film. Good moral questions. And absolutely great story!.......2006-11-22

This 1998 drama took me by surprise. I got completely involved in it. My heart beat and I felt pangs of anxiety. And I couldn't stop watching.

The film opens in Malaysia where three young American men are just plain having a good time. There are wonderful beaches, lots of girls and plenty of hashish. Then their vacation is over. Two of them return home. The third, Lewis, played by Joaquin Phoenix, decides to stay on and join a group that saves gorillas.

Fast forward now two years. As none of these Americans knew each other too well, they have lost touch. Enter Anne Heche. She contacts both John, played by Vince Vaughn and David, played by Tony Croft. She tells them she is Lewis' attorney. The story is that right after the three men separated, Lewis was arrested for hashish possession. It was such a large quantity that he is considered a drug trafficker; the sentence is death. He's been in a Malaysian jail all this time and the case has been under appeal. But the appeals have run out, and Lewis is sentenced to die in just eight days.

However, if both John and David would return to Malaysia and each serve a 3-year sentence, Lewis' life would be saved. If only one of the men return, the sentence would be six years. But either way, Lewis would be allowed to live. This is quite a dilemma. And from that point on I knew that no matter how it turned out, it would not be a pleasant ending. I couldn't help my real deep emotions that surfaced during this film. What would I do if put into that situation? A Malaysia prison is a horrible place. And in case we don't get it, there are several scenes shot there.

This is a fine film. It brings up questions of moral complexity. There are no easy answers.

Yes, the acting is good, the cinematography just right. But the thing that fascinated me the most was the story. And isn't that what a good film is really about?

OSCAR???.......2006-10-20

This film was amazing! Naturally the one's you never hear about are the one's that deserve the most attention. The beginning was a tad bit slow, especially when it came to Vaughn making up his mind to go or not. Ultimatly his performance made up for that. Even though Phoenix is rarely seen throughout the film, his roll is so touching and heart wrenching it puts a lump in my throat just thinking about it. I think there should have been Oscar nod's all around! It really begs the question, would you do the same for another? Share this wonderful film with friends and family it truly is one of the best films of all time.

Moral Passion Play Turns Into Tepid Romantic Melodrama--Too Bad.......2006-10-14

In the American adaptation of "Force majeure," we get a great setup. "Return to Paradise" poses the moral dilemma of whether someone would be willing to give up several years of freedom to save another's life. It's a fantastic, sticky ethical quandary and one that I think is presented quite well in this film. Vince Vaughn and David Conrad play two guys who are asked this question--as a buddy they left in Malaysia is about to be put to death (on a drug charge for which they all bore responsibility).

As we see these two wrestle with the implications, the doubts and the ambiguities--this film is at its strongest. How far will you go to be a "good" person, and is it worth it? Very weighty issues.

The first half of this film is solid, solid material. The lawyer who approaches them, played by Anne Heche, also gets involved with Vaughn personally. I could have done without this romance--but as characters struggling and conflicted and despairing, I suppose there was some basis for them to be drawn together. Another outside force, however, is a newspaper reporter played by hard-as-nails Jada Pinkett Smith. For those of you who have seen the patented Pinkett Smith hard-as-nails performance--it's really not much to see. And her character is pretty pointless, as well--a plot convenience to be revealed at a later time. But even though it was far from perfect, this half was thoroughly compelling.

Sadly, the film ventures to Malaysia for the remainder of the movie. What becomes painfully obvious now is that our romance has moved to the forefront of the picture. Joaquin Pheonix, as the prisoner, has yet to be fleshed out as a character. We don't see any real relationship between he and Vaughn or he and Heche. This is a fatal flaw! As we move into melodrama, I was surprisingly unmoved. Intellectually, I knew I should care but the film never bothered to emotionally invest me. So while I was left cold having hoped for so much more--then the big surprise courtroom revelation (see plot convenience mentioned in above paragraph).

Ultimately, the romance was again played up for the finale. With Phoenix being a character construct or plot device--instead of someone we knew and cared about--the film kills itself. Far from being an awful movie--what could have been powerful and emotionally devastating is really just mundane. KGHarris, 10/06.

Average customer rating:

I didn't love this one
The return of the repressed
Under the Radar
KIRK DOUGLAS - OPUS ONE - KIRK DOUGLAS
Kirk Douglas - Best EVER

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck , Van Heflin , Lizabeth Scott , Kirk Douglas , and Judith Anderson
Director: Lewis Milestone
Manufacturer: Paramount
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ASIN: B000ANVPVU
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Amazon.com essential video

Barbara Stanwyck mesmerizes as a woman with a past, bound by a crime to a husband she despises. Kirk Douglas quickens our collective pulses in his film debut as her disappointing, dipsomaniac spouse, while Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott bring texture to supporting roles. Everything about this 1946 film noir is intriguing, from Lewis Milestone's direction to Edith Head's costumes to the edgy and troubled characters. It takes a long, hard look at guilt and the consequences of poorly planned actions. Well worth checking out, despite a wretched title. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Product Description

Although this was director Lewis Milestone's only venture into the realm of noir, it remains a classic of the genre. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers stars Barbara Stanwyck as the title character, a tough, spoiled, willful heiress married to the local D.A., Walter O'Neil (Kirk Douglas), a weak-willed alcoholic. When old friend Sam Masterson (Van Heflin) suddenly returns to town after many years away, he approaches Walter to ask his help with the case of Toni Marashek (Lisabeth Scott), a friend who has been falsely accused of a crime. Sam is surprised, at first, to learn of Walter's marriage, knowing both of the parties, but quickly begins to put the pieces together. It turns out that Martha's tyrannical aunt (Judith Anderson), met an untimely end on the night that Sam left town, and Martha fears that Sam will reveal what he knows about that night, thereby destroying the lives of both she and her husband. Consequently, she begins to plot against Sam, who she also loves in her own twisted fashion. Every element seems perfectly in place in this typically guilt-saturated noir, with superb direction from Milestone, a memorable score by Miklos Rosza, and an outstanding performance by Kirk Douglas in his film debut.

Customer Reviews:

I didn't love this one.......2007-08-27

...a dark film with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in-scratch that, I think the sink was tossed in there. Honestly, I thought Stanwyck and Douglas's performances were laughable. Douglas looked like he was just happy to be there and I don't know what Stanwyck's problem was. Van Helfin was okay but it's Lizabeth Scott that stole this one. She was the only character that came close to being believable. The young actors in the begining of the film were great, but the adult versions just fell flat. And this screenplay was nominated for an Oscar? Jeez. Must have been slim pickin's that year. Overall: Skip it.

The return of the repressed.......2007-06-12

The sets and production values of this Paramount story of intrigue from 1946, the annus mirabilis of film noir, are superb, and there's no film starring Barbra Stanwyck that's not worth watching if just for her. Watchable though she inevitably is here, this is one of the few times in her long and magnificent career where she was truly miscast: Stanwyck was equally versatile playing comedy or drama, poverty or wealth, but the one thing she cannot play is neurosis--she was far too confident and driven a performer to be very believable as the highly ambivalent and conflicted Martha O'Neil. None of the three leads in this odd film seems ideally cast: as Martha's weakling alcoholic husband, Kirk Douglas, stunningly handsome in his first film role, is supposed to be wildly jealous of Van Heflin, of all people, who has come back to Iverstown (the Pennsylvania industrial town Stanwyck and Douglas jointly rule) with the memory of a childhood killing. Equally oddly cast is Janis Wilson, the memorably unhappy child Tina from NOW, VOYAGER here playing Martha as a young girl; it is inconceivable this anguished girl could ever grow up to be the tough and omnicompetent Stanwyck. Only Lizbeth Scott, as Heflin's weak new lady love, seems truly comfortable in her part. Even so, this DVD is still very much worth seeing if only for its early variations on common film noir themes.

Under the Radar.......2007-03-29

Excellent cast of Barbara Stanwyck, Kirk Douglas, Van Heflin, and Lizabeth Scott cannot pull this film out of mediocrity. The elements of noir are present: murder, jealousy, innocence, and betrayal but the film lacks the desperation and moral conflict that surrounds the protagonist in so many films of the genre. Van Heflin's performance is flat and Lizabeth Scott's performance is as wooden as a pine plank. Stanwyck's role and performance is more credible, but not as absorbing in later films such as Sorry Wrong Number and Double Indemnity. Kirk Douglas is very good in his first major Hollywood role as an alcoholic district attorney who fears that the appearance of a childhood friend (Heflin) will destroy the upper class lifestyle he enjoys with his wife (Stanwyck). The reunion between the Heflin character and Stanwyck's character is awkardly filmed and dramatized. Meanwhile we are left to believe that the nomadic Lizabeth Scott character still can't find the nerve to leave town. For some reason, for me anyway, the town looked liked it was situated somewhere near Pittsburg, Pa. I thought the ending of the film was a bit histrionic, but still an interesting ending. Why we needed anything after this, I don't know. The film should have concluded with a slow fade to darkness. Instead we see a sugar coded resolve that would have been more suited to a Disney Studio production.

KIRK DOUGLAS - OPUS ONE - KIRK DOUGLAS.......2007-03-20

First and only film noir directed by Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front), first movie of Kirk Douglas, a screenplay written by Robert Rossen (The Hustler), THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS is the kind of film any movie buff should have the desire to see. The Paramount Home Entertainment release I bought here at Amazon presents a near perfect copy of this movie but, beware, no extras at all.

Two scenes of the movie, Judith Anderson's death and the tragic finale deserve to stay in a film noir anthology, as well as the performances of Kirk Douglas and Barbara Stanwyck. Note also than the numerous close-ups of Lizabeth Scott and the silly epilogue of THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS must not be accredited to Lewis Milestones nor to Robert Rossen. They were shot, after the completion of the film, by Byron Haskin on the producer Hal B. Wallis demand.

A DVD zone your library.

Kirk Douglas - Best EVER.......2007-01-12

The title may steer you in the wrong direction - this is not a romance. This is one of the best early pscho-dramas. Barbara Stanwyck is cold as ice, softening up all girlie when her childhood love returns. Kirk Douglas was magnificent as the whiney, wimpy, drunken husband.

And this movie has the best ending of all movies EVER.

They just don't write them like this anymore.

Average customer rating:

Deeply Inspiring
Widow In Black
Perfect love makes perfection in all.
The Many Widows of St-Pierre
A brilliant film!

The Widow of Saint-Pierre
Starring: Juliette Binoche , Daniel Auteuil , Emir Kusturica , Michel Duchaussoy , and Philippe Magnan
Director: Patrice Leconte
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B00005N89H
Release Date: 2001-09-18

Customer Reviews:

Deeply Inspiring.......2006-05-30

A very special story that sheds glowing light on the beautiful capacities of the human heart. I found myself deeply inspired to create new paintings while watching this true story unfold. Dael DaelArt.com

Widow In Black.......2005-08-20

Juliette Binoche is an amazing actress. Since her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The English Patient" in 1996 and her nomination for "Chocolat," she's an actress whose films I seek. "The Widow of Saint-Pierre" has a bit of irony to the title. The opening frames show Binoche in black staring out of a window. We then move into the flashback in which most of the film moves forward. We learn that the "widow" is the guillotine that must be shipped by boat from France before the big execution can take place. We see director Emir Kusturica in an acting role as the very large prisoner Neel whose rehabilitation Binoche's Madame La seeks. We keep wondering if the black dress is saved for the prisoner. Daniel Autereil who won a Cesar (French Oscar) for his work with director Patrice Leconte for "Ridicule" in 1996 plays the lovestruck Captain who is in charge of the execution. Spurred on by his wild and unconditional love for his wife, he thwarts the town's sentence of death at every turn, refusing to allow his soldiers to help haul the widow ship to shore. In the moment of ultimate irony, Neel volunteers to help bring the widow to shore, which is sure to result in his own execution. The bloody resolution and the final shots of Binoche in black bring the story to its somber conclusion. Patrice Leconte has a great reserve, shooting this excellent screenplay in period costume and letting the depth of his cast work its magic. This is an incredibly tragic romance, one that works exquisitely. Enjoy!

Perfect love makes perfection in all. .......2005-02-19

I find it odd that when reviewing the reviews of this film that people seem to either give it perfect or abysmal scores. The dichotomy of opinion is probably a direct result of the skill and immense power of Leconte's images, (especially those that his chosen actress affords us).

Leconte is a master and quite possibly the greatest living auteur currently making films. His movies often contain a refreshing difficulty that gives one hope that images still mean something, that film is still worthy of being explicated, that someone still cares enough to think that much without being overly clever such as the Coens and Anderson. I shouldn't say still. I should say is and will be, as Leconte is on a different level than any who has ever worked including Kieslowski (the master of images). I enjoy how Leconte has said that although it was his second period piece he approached the film as if that had nothing to do with it, learning from "Ridicule". I should point that out I have no problem with "Ridicule" and the fact that it is a period piece has a great deal to do with the presentation, but I can see what he meant. Like I said, I enjoy the statement, but I should also point out I'm a jerk.

Binoche and Auteuil are two of my favorite actors and this film shows them at their virtuosic best. They deliver amazing performances of a truly passionate couple who both hold unconditional love for the other which in itself contains ultimate trust of decision and character. Possibly more Auteuil's for Binoche's but the sympathy generated by his character fuels her as an equally sharing partner, making any difference negligible. There is a third character, Neel, but he is there only to accentuate the relationship between the other two.

The movie, quite simply is about unconditional love and what it means to love unconditionally. There is a subplot of equal merits (mainly concerning Neel) about the belief in redemption, and what it truly means to believe in redemption. In short it is about the consequences of action through belief, more so out of the love for another than those of moral ground or stance. Some people are not willing to accept the belief that actions can or should occur solely out of sympathy for another. Some people will never allow themselves to love unconditionally. Some people will not understand or even like this film.

Binoche deserves a prize that doesn't yet exist for her most exquisite performance. Leconte deserves recognition for what he has done and what he has given us with this film, certainly one of the best I have ever seen.

The Many Widows of St-Pierre.......2005-01-04

Early on, a comment is made that there are many widows in the neighborhood. It is an oddly pertinent observation.

Too many reviewers have written about pre-revolutionary France, Canada, and how the story must be totally unrelated to reality - wrong on all counts, also English spelling, recognition of famous actors on-screen, and basic comprehension of literature and art.

The story is quite realistic and perhaps historical, and, the behavior of Neel - where else would he go in an island of snow, or isolation? If sobriety does his character such good, perhaps he is truly remorseful, and grateful for the undeserved years given him. It was a given that Mme. La wasn't just another Republican, as it were, with vulgar bourgeois mores and tastes, and shallow tri-colore-wearing patriotism. In showing Neel humanity, his humanity was developed, not without a bit of recidivism when provoked, but he was reformed enough for it to be obvious to the rest of the islanders. Part of the tension is between the reformation of Neel, and the typical bureaucrats [invented in France for export to the White House] failing to take any initiative or possessing imagination at all.

The actual guillotine is in a museum on the island, and the islands are still part of the French Republic, not at all Canadian - the only place in the region using Euros. I guess you'd need to go to the Falklands, if you were to find another in this hemisphere! The French had been completely revolted, and Napoleon had begun strutting his stuff long before the century of the film. The French had even beaten us to ending slavery by this time!

Considering the facts' placement in history, surely the story could have unfolded much as the movie portrays.

A brilliant film!.......2004-10-10

This film tells a powerful story, a "Crime and Punishment"-esque recovery of the soul, except without the ending that Dostoevsky had in his novel. After Neel Auguste committs the murder, Madame La (Juliette Binoche), much like Dostoevsky's Sonya, takes on the monumental task of recovering a lost soul and succeeds. Those who suggest this film is unrealistic have no grasp of eternal, Christian values of compassion and those who call this film ideological propaganda have no appreciation for beauty, as the acting (by all three, especially Kusturica and Auteuil, whom I have discovered through this film and who almost eclipse the talented Binoche), the cinematography, and the directing are absolutely brilliant.

This is a must-watch for many different kinds of people, from those interested in St. Pierre & Miquelon (I had to look up the islands on a map and was surprised to learn they are French, not Canadian), to those who would like an illustration of why there is never a soul, lost forever, to those who would just like to receive aesthetic pleasure from a beautiful film.

Finally, some have commented on the character of Neel Auguste, saying that he is "retarded" for not running away. Do not let a comment like that fool you. It would not be made had the reviewer understood the character or even picked up on a direct quote from Madame La, "You are so fatalistic!". Never trust someone who tells you not to watch a movie. Watch it and decide for yourself. I cannot envision that you wouldn't like it.

Average customer rating:

Compulsion
Leopold and Loeb and Welles
Compulsion
Compulsion
Re-enactment of a sensational murder trial

Compulsion
Starring: Orson Welles , Diane Varsi , Dean Stockwell , Bradford Dillman , and E.G. Marshall
Director: Richard Fleischer
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
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ASIN: B000EHSVQO
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Description

In this riveting true story about the notorious 1924 Leopold-loeb murder case, Orson Wells stars as the brillant Clarence Darrow whose history-making defense against capitol punishment saved two wealthy Chicago teenagers from a death sentence.

Customer Reviews:

Compulsion.......2007-06-25

Based on the bizarre Leopold-Loeb murder case that gripped the nation back in the mid-1920s, Richard Fleischer's eerie "Compulsion" is a tense, stylish true-crime thriller. Actors Stockwell and Dillman bring the homicidal duo's sick, gay-inflected relationship to creepy life in the movie's first half, while a wily, disheveled Orson Welles, standing in for real-life attorney Clarence Darrow, takes over in the second, delivering an electrifying closing argument in court that alone is worth the price of admission. This is one "Compulsion" you won't mind having.

Leopold and Loeb and Welles.......2007-04-15

"Compulsion"

Leopold and Loeb and Welles

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

"Compulsion" is loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case that shocked America in 1924. Leopold and Loeb were two wealthy young men who murdered a young boy for the sheer thrill of it. They were set to find thrills but went too far. Their fellow aw student Sid Brooks helped to identify the body of the victim and found a clue to the killers who firmly believed they could outsmart all adversaries with ease. The result was a sensational court case when attorney Jonathan Wilk put capital punishment as well as the young men on trail.
Even though the movie was made in 1959 it is still remarkably riveting. Leopold and Loeb were amoral college students who were suffering from superiority complexes. They were bored with committing minor crimes like running drunks off of the road and smashing out storefront windows. They were looking to commit the "perfect crime that would have everyone talking". They had entrenched themselves with the philosophy of Nietzsche concerning the concepts of the superman, master-and-slave relationships and acts that wet beyond good and evil. So they kidnapped an elementary school student and killed him before they requested ransom.
Richard Fleischer directed the movie with flair and panache and made the decision not to show the murder and the terrible crime thus takes on a shuddery quality since the viewer has to fill in the details in his own mind. The movie is a study of how to make a flawless film. Chicago of 1924 is presented, therefore, in small details that make the surety of the verisimilitude of the movie and the major cast members give performances worthy of every award in acting.
Based on a novel of the same name by Meyer Levin, the screenplay does as the novel did-change the names of Leopold and Loeb to Artie Strauss and Judd Steiner. The film only deals with the crime and the trial which climaxes with the performance of Orson Welles as Jonathan Wilk (Clarence Darrow was the attorney. Dean Stockwell plays Leopold (Strauss) as sympathetic and confused and historians often have wondered if he, indeed, was weak. It was rumored that he was Loeb's sex slave. Stockwell captures the demeanor and the looks of someone who might very well think that he is above everyone else. He acts and looks like a boy genius. He speaks 14 languages and had plans to brush on most of them when he traveled to Europe. His trip was cancelled when he was called in and questioned about a pair of glasses that were found at the scene of the crime.
Bradford Dillman plays Loeb (Steiner). He is explosives personified. He is so aware of his own charm that it is amazing to think that he would consider a career in law over a career in acting. He is handsome and popular and dominated by his mother. He makes the most of the homosexual undertones in the screenplay when he questions Stockwell whether he is being replaced by a girl in the other's affections. We now know that Leopold and Loeb were lovers and lived a homosexual lifestyle long before the world was even considering acceptance. For a more homosexual view of the same case, the movie "Swoon" serves up all of the necessary information.
Orson Welles is Jonathan Wilk (Clarence Darrow) and Welles wars the role like a pair of comfortable shoes. Since there is no doubt to the guilt of the boys, his only issue is the sentencing and Welles gives a wonderful and moving plea for life in prison.
The Leopold and Loeb story fascinated many. Alfred Hitchcock bases his 1949 film "Rope" on it. "Rope" and "Swoon" are both excellent films but "Compulsion" is the best of the three films and aside from being the best about Leopold and Loeb, it is also one of the most valuable films made on the nature of murder.
Leopold and Loeb did not hang, because Darrow was such an opponent of the death penalty, the boys' families hired him to defend the boys. He used the theory that a jury would never be able to divorce the cruelty of Leopold's and Loeb's actions from the consideration of the punishment and he requested a bench trial for the sentencing. By doing so he managed to save the lives of the gay lovers. He was unwilling to risk losing two guilty clients to public hatred. Darrow won his case and the boys were sentenced to life plus ninety-nine years. Loeb, however, was murdered in prison by another prisoner who slashed him to death and was not punished for it. Leopold was released in 1958 and moved to Puerto Rico and worked as a nurse there, He died in 1971.
It shows the nervousness of Leopold as Loeb stayed cool, even to the point of helping the police investigation by suggesting possible suspects who were known to be pedophiles.
Welles only appears in the last half hour of the film but it is well worth the wait. His speech to the judge and his damnation of Stockwell who feels there is no God is one of the most powerful moments in the history of American cinema.
The film has one major flaw. Darrow did not win the sentence by convincing the judge of the impracticality of the death sentence. The judge actually dismissed this argument. Leopold and Loeb were under 21 years of age and they were to young to die by execution--although thy well deserved to. Welles pleaded for the lives of the two crazy boys and it is interesting to pay attention to how a barometer like the death penalty tells so much about the civility of a society. The United States backed away from it when a crime had been so horrific but now it is swinging back in favor of it for lesser crimes.
The movie puts a great deal of emphasis on the craziness and wealth of the two boys but des not get into their Jewishness nor their gayness. The fact that the boys were gay evoked public wrath at the time of the trail.
Stockwell and Dillman do fantastic jobs of drawing audience anger to the fore and I found myself watching and hoping they would be killed. Then enter Orson Welles with his perfect phrasing and the magnificence of carriage to remind us of what a great actor he was.
"Compulsion" is not a movie easily forgotten and now that it has finally been released on DVD, all of us have a chance to see what an excellent movie looks like. Do yourself a favor and have a look. You may never look at another movie the same way as you did before you saw "Compulsion".

Compulsion.......2006-11-10

The movie is a great movie especially since its a true story, however, the version you sent is not the version I like best , I wanted the one staring Dean Stockwell the one I bought from you stars Orson Wells and the stories are a little different.......If you have the version with Dean Stockwell I would certainly purchase it...thank you

Compulsion.......2006-07-26

The great strength of this stylish black and white film, which highlights the extraordinary murder of a fourteen year old by two brilliant intellectuals, just to show their superiority, is the performance of Orson Welles as Jonathan Falk (Clarence Darrow) in the second half of the film. To my mind he is simply mesmerising. I find the performances of Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman of a high order too.
I am very pleased that Amazon.com has made it available, and that I now have it in my collection.

Re-enactment of a sensational murder trial.......2005-06-10

The brilliant Orson Welles' eloquent and compassionate soliloquy as defense attorney Jonathan Wilk during summation at the trial of two adolescent boys accused of murder is the highlight of the movie "Compulsion".

This crime and courtroon drama is based on the 1924 trial of Loeb and Leopold, two wealthy and intelligent teenaged law students who killed a young boy in a "thrill" killing. Bradford Dillman playing Artie Straus and Dean Stockwell playing Judd Steiner felt so smug and intellectually gifted that they believed they could commit and get away with the perfect crime. Dillman the cocky leader of the two goaded the shy and introverted Stockwell into carrying out the demented plot. Both boys had no real close friends and subsisted together in what had the looks of a homosexual relationship.

Straus and Steiner conjured up alibis for the time of the murder but were split up for interrogation by state attorney Harold Horn, with E.G Marshall excellently playing a typical role for him. Marshall was able to trip the boys up and soon they were standing trial and facing the death penalty.

The boys wealthy parents hired Jonathan Wilkes, played by a jowly Orson Welles who was supposed to represent the legendary Clarence Darrow to defend the boys. The superbly oratorical Welles shined brightly with his dialogue and stage presence. By withdrawing a plea of not guilty he removed the jury from the decision making process. The guilty plea with mitigating circumstances allowed psychological profiling to be admitted as testimony. He was able to appeal to the judge whose job was to pronounce sentencing to overturn the death penalty and settle for a verdict of life imprisonment.

Director Richard Fleischer did a creditable job in presenting what was a landmark case In American jurisprudence.

The Life of David Gale (Full Screen Edition)

Average customer rating:

View it as a simple thriller/mystery or in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment
Something Was Missing
One of the great undiscovered flicks.
Worth watching
very good

The Life of David Gale (Full Screen Edition)
Starring: Jim Beaver , Matt Craven , Jesse De Luna , Vernon Grote , and Constance Jones
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009M6VJ
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

View it as a simple thriller/mystery or in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment.......2007-07-06

Something Was Missing.......2007-03-22

One of the great undiscovered flicks........2007-03-21

Just one of those great movies that didnt get the recognition that it deserved. Of course, Kevin Spacey is one of the best actors of his time in my opinion, but overall this movie is a must see.

Worth watching.......2007-02-10

very good.......2007-01-23

Average customer rating:

HOT HOT HOT
A Letter From Death Row
Bad, but you might just find it so bad it is good
Great Potential......but
Very Good!

A Letter from Death Row
Starring: Moe Alexander , James W. Allen , Evante Brookshire , Swan Burrus , and Gary Dennis
Director: Baker, Marvin
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000C3IC7
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Customer Reviews:

HOT HOT HOT.......2007-08-06

i JUST WATCHED IT VERY HOT!!GOTTA WATCH IT AGAIN.WOULD RECOMMEND FOR ALL BRET MICHAELS FANS.ALTHOUGH HE DOESN'T LOOK RIGHT BALD HE PLAYED A HELL OF A ROLE IN THE MOVIE!!
Sheila Lance

A Letter From Death Row.......2007-03-08

Oh My God! This movie was so incredible. Bret Michaels is not only a great singer but a great actor too. This definately could have been based on a true story and the twist at the end. Brilliant! I just can't say enough good things about it.

Bad, but you might just find it so bad it is good.......2006-07-23

This movie is universally mocked. I own the soundtrack and it is pretty darn bad, but I had to see the movie for myself. Other universally accepted facts are that Bret Michaels is hot, Poison made some great music in the 1980's, and their music videos were darn good and the DVD collection of them sells well to their fan base even a full two decades later.

Bret should stick to his talents at over-the-top rock music and music videos. This movie is shot like a music video, circa 1988, with weird effects and fades that are inappropriate for a drama. As a rock star Bret is a good guy with a bad boy image, and he tries to pull that off with the main character in this movie as a petty criminal who is framed for murder. It's laughable how he tries to tip toe the good guy/criminal line, and he fails at being either. There's a massive conspiracy twist and Bret's character is not just fighting for his own life, but justice for the entire community at the hand of corrupt politicians.

The acting is bad, the plot is predictably bad, the soundtrack is rotten, and Bret's own hero worship for himself is shameless. You know what? For any Poison fan, this crosses the line from bad to so-bad-its-good. Don't waste your money on it, but rent it for a single viewing.

Great Potential......but.......2005-08-27

This was definitely a "B" movie. Micheals should have sold the screenplay to someone who knew how to make a movie. The plot was great, I thought it was suspenseful and well written. However most of the acting and production was deplorable. Question: was Michael's girlfriend a stripper before she hooked up with him? Because the only convincing part of her performance was while she was on stage. Overall this is worth watching, but I highly recommend you rent it or buy it used, it is not something you will want to watch over and over.

Very Good!.......2005-08-24

I had heard about this movie a while back and then I found it on Amazon. This movie is very intense, It is hard for me to sit through a whole movie without getting up at least a couple of times. Not once did I leave my couch. It is worth seeing.

Average customer rating:

Powerful Kirk Douglas Movie
A wonderful courtroom drama and period piece
Underdeveloped outside the courtroom
Was justice truly served?
Add This DVD To Your Collection

Town Without Pity
Starring: Kirk Douglas , Barbara Rütting , Christine Kaufmann , E.G. Marshall , and Hans Nielsen
Director: Gottfried Reinhardt
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005S8KS
Release Date: 2002-02-05

Description

Three-time OscarÂ(r) nominee* Kirk Douglas is downright brilliant (The New Yorker)in this honest and gripping drama about a sleepy, occupied German town suddenly shocked awake by the brutal actions of four American soldiers. As timely today as it was shocking upon its release, Town Without Pity is an excellent productionone of the decade's finest jobs of filmmaking (Limelight) and will keep you on the edge of your seat! Attorney Steve Garrett (Douglas) is brought in to defend four enlisted men accused of attacking a 16-year-old girl. But if he's going to prevent their death sentences, he will have to turn the spotlight on the victim, Karin. Already immeasurably traumatized, Karin suddenly finds herself on the witness stand, attempting to justify her actions to Garrett, her stern father and a Town Without Pity. *Actor: Champion (1949),The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Lust for Life (1956)

Customer Reviews:

Powerful Kirk Douglas Movie.......2007-03-30

Town Without Pity is a signature Kirk Douglas performance. He plays a JAG lawyer in Germany charged with defending a group of soldiers who are accused of raping a local girl.

Douglas' character knows that to properly defend his clients (who include Richard Jaeckel, Robert Blake, and Frank Sutton), he will have to destroy the girl on the stand. He doesn't want to do it, but circumstances seem to point to its inevitability.

Douglas always seemed to play one of two character types. As the villain, he was ruthless, ambitious, arrogant, and willing to do whatever and sacrifice whomever to achieve his goal. As the hero, he seemed to specialize in playing men who are decent, honorable, noble people who are trying to do the right thing despite overwheliming obstacles like bureaucracy, intolerance, and cruelty. In both, he excelled at playing the tortured soul who suffers despite his motivations.

This is a great film, and worthy of many viewings.

A wonderful courtroom drama and period piece.......2006-05-23

This is an excellent film and a story well told. The time is 1960, the place, West Germany, in a town in which a large US Army contingent is based. The story deals with a tragic rape of a young German girl by four GIs.

Of course, the entire town is howling for the death penalty to be meted out to the four soldiers, three of whom are clearly guilty. The American command is equally horrified and determines that the crime of the four soldiers is an outrage and will be tried and treated as one, with an open trial in the center of town. Much of the town attends.

The film brilliantly develops the theme of the story--the town is riven by hatreds and divisions of wealth and class. Its outrage over the crimes of the soldiers becomes overshadowed by the rivalries and resentments involving the young victim's family. Soon the trial becomes a forum for ridiculing the girl and her family, and ruining what should have been a spotless reputation.

Kirk Douglas turns in a fine performance as the defense counsel, who is both sympathetic to the victim, and ruthless in his tactics aimed at sparing his four clients the death penalty. The courtroom drama here is superb and for once, generally true to life. This is a fascinating film, but unfortunately not a happy or uplifting one.

This film has a special attraction to me, as it was set in postwar Germany, where I served as an Army officer in the 1970s. This film very accurately captures the attitudes and interactions of American soldiers and officers, and German citizens, during the postwar period. The on-location filming adds tremendously to the authenticity of the piece.

This is a dark drama which will nevertheless not fail to move and impress the viewer.

Underdeveloped outside the courtroom.......2005-12-20

Sometimes a movie's trailer - love those trailers - can give us a different impression of a movie that what you'd imagine the filmmaker intended. The trailer for TOWN WITHOUT PITY practically screams steamy sleaze. It's today, 1960, and the place is a US Army base in Germany. Four drunk US soldiers, in civilian dress, stumble out of a bar. The soldiers are either troubled or tough, and include a young Robert Blake, the reliably perverse Richard Jaeckel, and square-jawed Frank Sutton, who's probably best remembered as the oft-angered Sgt. Carter on `Gomer Pyle, USMC.' Here he's just tough and mean. Still got the buzz cut going, though. Cut to a loving shot of pretty Christine Kaufmann in bikini. Think there's a guy in the shot with her. Cut to a below-the-knee shot of Christi