Last Dance (1996)

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.

This review contains spoilers!Sharon Stone stars as a woman on death row, awaiting her execution, when suddenly a young lawyer decides to give it his all to fight for a stay of execution and retrial. Apparently there was exonerating evidence kept out of her trial, about her own abuse and the fact that she was drugged and drunk when she committed the heinous crime. Sharon Stone gives a brilliant performance, but the movie as a whole feels completely unnecessary, both because Dead Man Walking dealt with the same issues a few months earlier, because the mentioned circumstances doesn't really make her any less guilty or less deserving of the death penalty for having robbed two innocent people of their lives, and ultimately because all the efforts of the young lawyer yields no results, and she's ultimately executed. The latter is, along with Sharon Stone's performance, the best thing about the movie, if you ask me, but it still feels like a 103 minute long movie about nothing. An admitted killer got what she deserved, and those closest to her, and a few others who've taken it upon themselves to care, feel sad about it. Nothing new there. And certainly not enough for another movie about it...

I don't know why this movie is so underrated , actually this movie i consider one of the best movies in cinema history , it has great story , amazing plot , fine cast. The scenario is great , there are no cheesy phrases , you can actually see great passion and emotion strong as true, you find yourself wrapped up in the movie and wherever Cindy goes you find yourself in Rick's chair , I think the cast also did a great job conveying a message against hate and spite. In conclusion the movie as a whole is a masterpiece with all great elements of success and thats why such a movie deserves better rating and a wider range of reputation, i totally rate it 10/10

I have yet to see DMW- starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, but given it was such a popular movie, it was difficult for this one to step out of its shadow. It is about a woman up against death row. An attorney steps in and tries to save her life by proving her innocence in a murder trial. I have always been intrigued with prison movies for their grittiness, and drama, and Last Dance has some real moments of tension. However the grittiness is somewhat lacking, until the end (and even there its not as strong). What saves the movie is strong acting, specifically from Stone (who is somewhat Hollywood's female version of Sean Penn in that they exceed in the lowlife "bad guy" roles like no other). 7/10.