Product Details

• Actors: Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney, Cleo King, Constance Jones
• Directors: Alan Parker
• Writers: Charles Randolph
• Producers: Alan Parker, David Wimbury, Guy East, Lisa Moran, Moritz Borman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: January 6, 2004
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (179 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009MEA5
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,419 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) plays David Gale, a brilliant but hard-drinking anti-death penalty crusader on death row for a rape and murder that he claims he didn't commit. The victim of the crime is Gale's close friend and anti-death penalty colleague (Laura Linney, You Can Count On Me), so Gale argues that he's been set up to discredit the cause. Committed journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet, Titanic) takes it upon herself to figure the whole thing out--and so we follow her through a ridiculous plot full of supposedly shocking twists that are telegraphed far in advance and make very little sense when they arrive. The overwritten script tries to cover too many hot-button issues and gives Spacey way too many showy scenes where he gets to be passionate and caring, which is creepier than his psychopath roles in The Usual Suspects and Seven. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

A hyper-articulate and, at times, heartfelt movie, but a mess nonetheless. Kevin Spacey stars as a philosophy professor and anti-death-penalty advocate who winds up on death row in Texas. Laura Linney plays his academic and protest-movement colleague, whom he allegedly raped and murdered. Kate Winslet turns up as an ace investigative reporter from New York who finds the last-minute evidence that may exonerate him. Some of the academic atmosphere is knowing and fun, and Spacey and Linney have a couple of lovely scenes together, but the thriller mechanics of the movie (it's plotted against a clock) insult the audience. At the climactic moment, Winslet's rented car stalls like a dumb burro, and she has to run through what appears to be the entire state of Texas. Alan Parker directed, and the script was written by an ex-philosophy professor, Charles Randolph. The filmmakers' point of view regarding the death penalty is so confusing that no two sane people could agree on what it might be. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars See the film before the reviewers barricade its effect, July 23, 2003

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is, I believe, a much better film than many fellow reviewers would indicate. Perhaps they are influenced by the reviews that came out in the media at the time of the film's theatrical release, perhaps the Editorial slam on the Product Page by Bret Fetzer taints opinion. I would urge you to see and/or buy this DVD, keep an open mind, and witness the effect on your own emotional response.

Kevin Spacey fleshes out the title role as a believable philosophy professor who speaks against capital punishment in the state of Texas which just happens to be the place where more executions are performed than any other state. He is not without problems: alcohol, a drunken sexual relationship with a former student, and an awkward but deeply significant relationship with Constance (Laura Linney) who later when found 'murdered and raped' on videotape results in the arrest and conviction of Spacey's Gale, now facing death on death row. Laura Linney is most credible as a driven anti-death penalty activist for reasons we discover are beyond the range of civil rights reponsibilty. The third part of this triangle is the reporter brought in to investigate Gale's claim to innocence in the last four days of his wait on death row. Kate Winslet captures all the parameters of this contemporary woman with seamless detail. To tell more of the story would be injurious to the unfolding of this worthwhile drama.

For a 2 hour plus movie THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE manages to hold our interest, encouraging us as viewers to keep our invetigatory eyes and ears open and struggle along with Winslet and her cohort to finally put together all the pieces of the puzzle. Others have complained that the clues are in every scene: isn't that true of most crime investigations? I see no fault in placing all the information in front of the audience to test the observation of the viewer as much as the skill of the screenwriter in resolving a case with the important message of this film. Alan Parker uses a lot of visual tricks in addressing the facts of the crime and even makes interesting parallels in the background music (the fairly obvious metaphor of TURANDOT arias by the presuicidal Liu appear repeatedly).

In the end this story is on a par with DEAD MAN WALKING as far as a significant plea for anti-Capital Punishment voices. See it for yourself. The skills of actors like Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, and Kate Winslet pledging belief in this script can't be ignored.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not as predictable or flawed as many seem to think, April 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

scanning the negative reviews posted here, the nay-sayers seem to be divided into two camps: those who say the movie was too predictable; and those who say they can't believe the ending. presumably, one reason the latter group is incredulous is because they didn't see it coming. funny how you get completely opposite views.

me, i didn't see the ending coming, but i do think it made perfect sense. many objected that spacey and linney undermined their own cause by their "stunt". i don't agree. first, the full story wasn't meant to be disclosed to the public, only to the reporter. second, and more important, the ending was not done solely to prove a point, as many have suggested. in fact, linney was already terminally ill and spacey's fortunes had fallen to the point where he had little to live for. the so-called "stunt" was really a way to make their lives - and their inevitable deaths - more meaningful. making a point about capital punishment was only one part of it, the public dimension. there were very real private considerations as well.

many also commented that the ending didn't make sense. i think it does. spacey knows that he's used winslet to convey his public AND private message (to his son). it's to assuage his guilt that he sends the tape at the end. how does he know that winslet won't tell all? because she's proven that she can be trusted to respect the confidentiality of her sources: if she won't betray "kiddy porn scum", why would she betray an innocent man?

but even if the public doesn't know the whole truth, won't spacey still be an "anti-captial punishment nuthead" (to paraphrase one reviewer) in winslet's eyes? maybe. and only she would know. but judging from her reaction at the end, i'd say, if anything, she felt great compassion and understanding for spacey. compassion for his suffering. understanding of his actions. and i don't know what the reviewer was watching who said spacey had a "dull" look in his eyes when he gazed in the camera in the last scene, but i can't recall the last time i saw a look of such profound sadness. it was a very moving moment.

there are many other objections that don't stand up under scrutiny. for example, one reviewer commented that the linchpin of the story was the tv confrontation between spacey and the governor of texas where spacey supposedly wasn't able to name a single innocent man who had been mistakenly killed. the reviewer couldn't believe spacey didn't have a comeback since there apparently have been cases where just such a travesty has happened. leaving aside the question of whether this is the "linchpin", if you listen closely to this scene, the question wasn't "name one man who has been mistakenly killed?"; it was "name one man OUT OF THE 131 WHO HAVE BEEN PUT TO DEATH IN TEXAS DURING MY TENURE who was innocent?". there's a big difference between these two questions. the gov was answering for his state's record, under his watch. he's saying "show me where I'VE made a mistake. if you can do that, then maybe i'll reconsider MY STATE'S policy." this makes sense. why should the gov of texas answer for other jurisdictions or administrations? he should, and only can, answer for his own actions. which is exactly what he does.

another reviewer objected that it was obvious what spacey was up to when he hired an "incompetent" lawyer to defend him. "the film is too predictable", he cried. actually, the lawyer wasn't incompetent at all. if he wasn't effective, it was BY DESIGN: he was in on the scheme from the very start. this is revealed near the end when we see the relation between the cowboy and the lawyer, especially the transfer of money. counsel "botched" the defense because that's what spacey wanted.

so maybe the plot wasn't so "predictable" after all? there are other objections like these that also fall apart on closer examination. i could go through them one by one, but i don't have the time or space to do that. MY only objection is that the film does occasionally go over-the-top in making its points. it does get a little preachy. this is more an aesthetic and artistic flaw, however, than an ideological or polemical one - more how the message is conveyed than what the message is.

good film. definitely worth a rental, and maybe even a purchase if you're a big spacey fan. to the naysayers i'll just say: watch the film again, and then tell me if you still think it's "too predictable" or flawed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Be Watched from Beginning to End!, February 5, 2004

By 

Michael A. Newman (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Life of David Gale [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Great movie from the opening sequence to the very last shot! Worth seeing again to see what you missed the first time. This movie is the type where the director and editor did not put any "filler" into. Every scene is important.

Keving Spacey is great and Kate Winslett convincingly drops her British accent in a tale of an anti-death penalty advocate who is awaiting execution for the murder of one of his fellow advocates. Winslett's character (Bitsy) is a reporter who has the assignment of getting Gale's story before he dies and proving his innocence. As the Gale's story unfolds one scene early on is very important. That is where Gale is in a televised debate with the governer of Texas over the merits of the death penalty. The debate turns into a shouting match with Gale cornering the governer into stating that if Gale could name one "innocent" person who received the death penalty, that he would sign an order to abolish the penalty in Texas. As the movie winds towards a climatic ending we begin to realize that it is more important that Bitsy can prove Gale's innocence, than save him from leathal injunction.

The movie is full of plot-twists and incredible suspense with a few scenes that will startle you.