Watch Last Dance For Free

How sad is this?

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

John Hayes (Peter Gallagher) is the governor's chief of staff. He gets his disgraced black sheep brother Rick Hayes (Rob Morrow) a job. Sam Burns (Randy Quaid) gives him a meaningless job to write a report on the possibility of clemency for death row inmate Cindy Liggett (Sharon Stone) but the governor never gives clemency. Liggett committed a double murder including the son of a wealthy supporter of the governor. As Rick investigates, he gets thrown off the case. A black prisoner is given clemency for political reasons while Liggett faces death.This movie suffers badly from the comparison to 'Dead Man Walking'. Sharon Stone's performance is not horrible. This is more of a mystery about a case. The film simply doesn't do a good job with the emotional roller coaster of death row. It goes from stale to overacting. Rob Morrow is actually the lead of this film. He's not a compelling lead slipping in and out of a southern accent. The whole last act is done badly with a romantic sequence tacked on.

In case you're wondering, yes, "Last Dance" is clearly a film against capital punishment. But what makes it interesting is how it does not dwell on the morality of whether it's right or wrong to execute convicted criminals, but rather it focuses on the corruption of human government which uses lives for political manipulation. Whether you're in favor of capital punishment or not, we can all agree that we shouldn't send people to their deaths just so someone can win an election, right? That's the core theme of this film. One prisoner may be pardoned--why?--not because he's worthy but simply because the public likes him and will vote for any politician who will pardon him. Another prisoner may not be so politically valuable, so he ends up behind the 8 ball.With this approach in mind, "Last Dance" leads us through a nightmarish labyrinth of human justice where innocence and guilt have nothing to do with punishment. Sharon Stone plays "Cindy" a condemned killer who brutally murdered two people 12 years prior. What follows is not an issue of whether she deserves to live or die, but it's an issue of whether her fate should be determined by a small handful of powerful people with only their own interests in mind.There's a great line from the movie where one character shirks his responsibility with: "It's just the system" and another character responds "we ARE the system." Without devolving into a cartoonish conspiracy thriller, this film takes a broad and disturbing look at the ongoing failure of human justice. It's reminiscent of Orson Welles' masterpiece "The Trial" in the way that it doesn't accuse any individual culprit but rather the entire collective "system" which seems to perpetuate itself simply by people refusing to take a stand.While there's not a lot of action, it's definitely a roller-coaster as our hero Ricky (Rob Morrow) struggles to set things right. Don't expect a fast paced flick with car chases and evil villains on his tail. No, this is the real world, and the only villains are his bosses, colleagues and politicians who thwart his progress by simply doing what they do every day.Excellent acting by Sharon Stone makes you connect with her even though you remain fully aware that she is a killer. There's one fantastic scene in particular where you feel her exasperation come to a boil. It expresses the exasperation of American citizens who are so sick of corruption that they're ready to give up. Meanwhile "Ricky" symbolizes the spirit of the individual who is ready to fight it to the end.Directed by Bruce Beresford, known for the sentimental "Driving Miss Daisy", this film definitely knows how to tug at your emotions. But at the same time it doesn't lose itself in sappy melodrama.If movies like this interest you, I highly recommend "Monster" and the accompanying documentary "Aileen Wurnos: Life and Death of a Serial Killer". If you like films that explore the failure of the court system and why it fails, definitely check out the grandfather of such films "12 Angry Men", a slow yet riveting film set entirely within 1 room as jurors expose their own prejudices & selfish interests while deciding the fate of a young boy on trial. Films like these are practically historical documents as well as highly powerful cinema.

Susan Hayward set her standards so high as far as this kind of performance is concerned that every actress who tries her hand at the death row will fatally be compared to her.Robert Wise 's "I want to live" remains vivid in memory .But Sharon Stone walks out with honors.She's a genuine thespian here,giving up glamour,seduction and sophistication ,but not necessarily her basic instincts which led her to the death sentence.She displays restraint in her gestures and her words,her relationship with other inmates rings true,particularly with the black woman.Her interest in art drawing is credible.Sadly,she's supported neither by the rest of the cast,nor by the plot.Her attentive escort is a rather bland actor,who seems more to go touring round the jail than care for his unfortunate protégée.And what a man!We learn that he is a young man of means whose fortune fluctuates as the years pass by.That's the main flaw:the movie would like to be realistic,it is melodramatic to the core.Outside the lawyer's story,we deal with a black convict,who redeemed himself in jail,who wrote a book,which became a best-seller,and he passed a law degree ,you name it...Alas poor Sharon/Cindy killed a wealthy man's son (and his girlfriend),but she was never given a chance ,being born on the wrong side of town.A glance into her aunt's "house" tells it all.That's too much.There is a successful short scene.Morrow asks the female victim's mother to sign a petition;and although she's an adept of "thou shalt not kill",she refuses.Hardly one minute,but these few words say a lot more than the preachy chatter of the rest of the plot.But the "false " ending -and there's also a ridiculous Indian epilogue- gives the coup de grâce to the movie.

This movie is an attack to death sentences, it shows how these ones can be cruel and how someone can change after understanding his own mistakes. The idea is good but not the realization: this movie is slow and boring. But here there is a very lovely Sharon Stone: here she shows to be a very good actress, beside being a very very beautiful woman. Conclusion: just watch it on TV.