Last Dance (1996)
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Upon taking a new job, young lawyer Rick Hayes is assigned to the clemency case of Cindy Liggett, a woman convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. As Hayes investigates the background for her case, the two begin to form a deep friendship, while all the while the date for her execution draws nearer.
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What critics compared Last Dance to
They are, however, notoriously difficult to get right, as are Death Row movies – for every Dead Man Walking, there’s a Green Mile or The Chamber or that really awful one with Sharon Stone that no-one remembers (Last Dance).
Those unclear about the differences between independent and major Hollywood studio productions need do no more than simply compare Gramercy's acclaimed Death Row drama Dead Man Walking and the new Buena Vista release, Last Dance.
As in "Dead Man Walking," there is no doubt she's guilty, but here the killer isn't seeking redemtion.
Movies like Clay (1965) and The Spag (1962) by Giorgio Mangiamele, Sophia Turkiewicz’s Silver City (1984), Paul Cox’s A Woman’s Tale (1991), Steve Jacobs’ La Spagnola (2001), John Hillcoat’s The Proposition, Khoa Do’s Mother Fish (2010), and David Pulbrook’s Last Dance (2012) are among the many that have examined our own history of immigrants on local screens.
So many similar movies have been made recently about the exact same subject (1995's "Dead Man Walking," 1996's "Last Dance," 1996's "The Chamber") that there could virtually be a new film genre invented.
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He fails to convince, of course, but with the lines Morrow is given (by writer Ron Koslow, who has few forgettable credits like 1985's "Into the Night") it's hard to tell if he's supposed to be nervous and unsure of himself or a skilled litigator who just chose to argue with the wrong guy.
In the '90s, however, the director has seemed to be struggling to find his focus, producing a string of unsuccessful middle-ground films like the death-penalty drama "Last Dance" and the maundering Dixie heart-tugger "Rich in Love."
But Bruce Beresford, who ducked through legal loopholes in Sharon Stone's dead-serious death row drama "Last Dance," seems to have little interest in integrity (his or the story's) and happily turns the other way while his movie gallops through a minefield or moronic mistakes.