Condamné à mort

A very good movie, especially for a made for cable movie. The funny thing is I saw this movie by accident. I read the summary of the movie in the T.V. guide, but wasn't interested in it. Anyway I was watching the tube when the movie suddenly came on.

I immediately was hooked, and thought the plot was well done.

I'm showing this one to all of my friends who somehow missed it too. Randy Quaid does some of his best acting (although you've gotta admit his true calling is in comedys). I also enjoyed the script, especially where they DIDN'T say anything. Randy in the toaster (electric chair), without any last words is classy. Rent it!

For a made-for-cable TV movie, this one ranks as one of the better ones in terms of plot, characterization, acting and progress of the movie. You are never sure until the end if Jeremy Dillion is really good or just appears to be. I won't spoil the ending by telling you what happened, just suffice to say that throughout the movie, you will be wavering between good and bad, and you will not know until the end. The film builds up a good momentum towards the climax, and I thoroughly enjoyed this, which I might have missed have I not read the cable TV guide and saw this as the best pick of all.

After the first couple of scenes, I thought, "What an interesting idea--now let's see what they do with it." I was hoping this film would provoke some really hard thinking about moral responsibility, what we mean by one's "self", etc., but it turned into the usual tale of "redemption," accompanied by (of course) gunplay and suspense. Wait, did I say suspense? Sorry. The final "twist" is so utterly predictable and so obviously foreshadowed very early in the story that the last half-hour is just a waste of time-- a big build-up to something you already know is going to happen. Instead of an act of redeeming self-sacrifice on the part of the main character, it would have been more interesting if presented strictly as a legal conundrum, with arguments for and against commuting the killer's death sentence, etc. >

This was made-for-cable? This was a very good movie.

Randy Quaid was awesome as serial killer Jeremy Dillon, who undergoes a transformation after his execution in Florida's electric chair is botched (Yes, it IS set in Florida, and they do mention 'Ol' Sparky'. Interestingly enough, this movie was made after an inmate's face burst into flames while he was being electrocuted). Now, not only does he not believe he's capable of the acts he committed (raping and murdering young women) much less remember them, he can see the future as well. When his 'psychic' powers lead to the closure of some cases, including the freedom of a friend wrongly placed on death row himself, the public becomes sympathetic. But can he convince the Governor, the Warden, his psychologist and a victim's advocate (who is the sister of one of his victims) that's he's really a changed man?