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Dead Man Walking

Dead Man Walking (1995)

December. 29,1995
|
7.5
|
R
| Drama

A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.

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Reviews

Derrick Gibbons
1995/12/29

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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Mathilde the Guild
1995/12/30

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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Dana
1995/12/31

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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Billy Ollie
1996/01/01

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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classicsoncall
1996/01/02

I can't help but admit that my personal feelings about the principals for this film, including director Tim Robbins, in a way influence my thoughts about the picture. However I will concede that throughout the movie, there was an even handed approach to balancing both sides of the capital punishment issue. For added poignancy, the parents of the victims of Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) are given their due, and Sister Prejean's (Susan Sarandon) efforts to understand both their feelings and those of Poncelet himself are to be commended. Both Penn and Sarandon offer competent portrayals of their characters, with Penn particularly effective. Though I'm no fan of either, I can still recognize that their efforts were noteworthy here. There wasn't much doubt in my mind that Poncelet was not wrongly convicted, and the closing moments of the story brought that home in frightening detail. What's interesting to me is that almost two decades after this film came out, Sean Penn appeared in 2003's "Mystic River", in which he portrays a father seeking vengeance for a daughter who is murdered , and in so doing, winds up killing his childhood best friend. That best friend in the story was portrayed by Tim Robbins.

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coolgod
1996/01/03

He isn't sorry for being such an arsehole in real life (but they never are!), but i digress; Concerning the film itself & authenticity:- real people simple aren't that numb to shocking/horrendous behaviour of other's & nor would they be even remotely sympathetic to such a bastard (unless they are a closet bastard as opposed to their religious preacher guise)..., if they were any good they're decent human sensibilitie's would be so offended by Sean Penn playing his real life bastard self (so convincingly) that they would hate the phucker & would volunteer to lethally inject birdschitt into him until he die's on the day of his overdue execution! Another obvious observation litigated by 'Not Your's Truly'

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garylampkin
1996/01/04

**NO SPOILERS** I'm enjoying upgrading some of my award winning movies to Blu-ray disc. The picture and sound quality is exponentially better than the standard DVD issues. Plus, I like revisiting the older movies in my collection. Dead Man Walking(DMW) is one of nine movies included in MGM 90th Anniversary- Best of Award Winners box set with Thelma and Louise; Midnight Cowboy; Raging Bull; Leaving Las Vegas; In The Heat of The Night; Rain Man; Dances With Wolves and Rocky. Some include extras I enjoy like commentaries by the Director, and with DMW there's one with Tim Robbins, one with Susan Sarandon and other actors, and, sometimes a documentary on the making of the movie and/or other background stories about soundtrack, script or special effects. I especially enjoy hearing the Director's viewpoint and sharing of his creative process.There's probably not much more I could say than what has already been said by other reviewers. This is a movie that will move you, and if you're not then you're not human. Great acting, great direction, great script, great cinematography, interesting soundtrack. This is not a movie for young children, very intense reenactment of a brutal crime plus language and adult themes. It's obvious in listening to the commentary tract that Robbins is anti-death penalty, but he refrains from getting preachy in the movie and leaves it to us to draw our own conclusions. So get the popcorn ready and the tissues. You are in for an emotional 2 hours.

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anthonymichaelbangert
1996/01/05

This simple film based on a true story written off the book by Sister Helen Prejean. It tells her story (played by the great Susan Sarandon)as she gets a letter from a man in prison who is looking for spiritual guidance amidst his impending death row sentence. Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) has been accused of the two counts of rape and one count of murder of a young couple found in the woods. The town is split by those who think he should be put to death for his crimes, and those who think his sentence should be switched to life imprisonment. As Sister Helen tries to help Matthew find peace through God, the parents of the deceased along with much of the town protest against and get mad at her for "choosing sides." All she wants to do, however, is love all, and help this man do the same. At first a racist, terrible human being, we see Matthew slowly start to be changed by Sister Helen. The film is mainly within the prison showing conversations between the main characters, or Sister Helen going places to get other perspectives through conversations with people. This movie also does not choose sides on the ideas of the death penalty. Rather, it just shows the events as they played out, so whatever side a person is on at the start of the movie is where they still will be, most likely, in the end. This movie is about the empathetic relationship between the two characters, and the duo of Sarandon and Penn work extremely well together. It is definitely an emotional film, and worth seeing.9/10

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