Last Dance (1996)

I love this movie so much

Absolutely Fantastic

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

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

For people who believe in second chances. "Last Dance" belongs to my top 10 lawyer movies of all time below "A Few Good Men," "Class Action" and "The Verdict." I've seen this movie a dozen of times and as a law student I must say that it is better than your average John Grisham legal drama maybe except for "The Rainmaker." This film takes on the professional and ethical dilemma of a young clemency attorney Rick Hayes played by Rob Morrow who befriends a death row inmate convicted of double murder Cindy Liggett played by Sharon Stone. She is about to be executed. He moves heaven and earth to save her from death by lethal injection. The rest of the cast are excellent from Peter Gallagher and Jack Thompson. Randy Quaid gives a very good performance as a sarcastic veteran clemency attorney Sam Burns.

Tough-to-watch story about a death row inmate (Stone) and the weeks before her execution. She is on death row for murders committed 10-15 years before, while under influence of alcohol, drugs, crazy boyfriend. Young hotshot lawyer (Morrow) tries to appeal, using evidence that would have cleared her, had it ever been introduced in trial. Story is actually about the struggle of love: romantic, platonic, self-esteem/love of self, love of humanity/against the death penalty. Funny thing happens to this lawyer on the way to death row...he falls in love with his client/prisoner. Is love from afar, as they never have physically intimate moments, but audience can feel the love/passion/heartbreak unfold on screen. Best performance for Stone, who believably delivers line after line of heart-wrenching, white trash, prison living drama. Not only do you feel for her, and Morrow's lawyer character, but you begin to re-examine your stance on prison and the death penalty. My heart broke, and I sobbed, when she uttered the line, "I ain't gonna beg for something I'm not gonna get." She is referring to the compassion and forgiveness her lawyer went to seek from her victims' families. You will struggle to keep it together during this movie, and will need time to emotionally recover afterwards. I cried as much as when I watched Saving Private Ryan. Both movies should be part of your permanent collection.

I just saw this recently, and found it interesting that the details of the case in it follow quite closely those of the controversial execution of Karla Faye Tucker Brown. Karla committed a double murder much like that portrayed in the film, and, like the film's Cindy Liggett, reformed her life in prison. Also like Liggett, she was a fairly attractive, articulate woman who argued eloquently, though futilely, for clemency. Unlike Liggett, however, Karla became a born-again Christian, and her clemency plea was supported by several prominent pastors including Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. It is thus notable that the governor who signed her death warrant was none other than our current, allegedly born-again President, George W. Bush. It is possible that nothing in Bush's checkered career reveals his true character more clearly than his callous, smirking mockery of Karla's dignified plea for her life during an interview with Talk Magazine the year after her execution.Incidentally, Karla Faye Tucker Brown was killed by the state of Texas in 1998, two years after this film came out. That suggests that the filmmakers might have been trying to to make an argument for clemency, as Errol Morris did for Randall Adams with his documentary "The Thin Blue Line." If so, it failed miserably.

So so film about death penalty. Full of cliches and emotional manipulation. Yes, you got it right, a definite tear jerker. So, not for me. But look! Isn't that Sharon Stone? Sure she is, beautiful as always. It's true, I sat trough the whole film just for her.