The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition)

The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition)

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Editorial Reviews

Suspenseful journey into deadly conspiracy & murderous deception begins when a respected professor who may or may not be guilty is charged with a brutal crime. The final twist will blow you away. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/28/2004 Starring: Kevin Spacey Laura Linney Run time: 131 minutes Rating: R Director: Alan Parker

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

Customer Reviews

DVD David Gale

Reviewed by C. Fox, 2010-03-03

This movie is absolutely riveting!!! My husband watched it and I heard all the dialogue in the other room. I had to watch it the next night. I am very grateful to have found this for a very good price with very prompt delivery. Thank you...I give this buyer thumbs up!

Flip the switch on this one...

Reviewed by Andrew Ellington, 2009-12-09

This film disappoints me. You take Kate Winslet (MY FAVORITE WORKING ACTRESS, PERIOD), the phenomenal Kevin Spacey, the brilliant Laura Linney and the sultry Rhona Mitra, team them up with 2-Time Oscar nominated director Alan Parker and hand them the controversial subject of the death penalty and yet, when all is said and done, there is just something so off here.

How does something like this happen?

I admit, when I first saw this movie I really liked it, and I think that a lot of it had to do with the preconceived notions I wouldn't allow myself to see past. I wanted this to be all sorts of brilliant, and when it fell short I convinced myself that I wasn't seeing what I was in fact seeing.

I have to face the truth.

The film follows a reporter, Bitsey Bloom (the name is the first of many missteps), as she attempts to prove the innocence of former teacher David Gale who is accused of brutally murdering his friend Constance Harraway. He maintains his innocence despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. His story sends Bitsey on a journey into the darkness that surrounded Constance's death.

A journey that is rather pointless.

The film cuts back and forth between the present and past to develop the character's and establish David's innocence and keep the viewer on constant edge as they race against the clock with Bitsey to uncover the truth. There are the obvious creeps (Matt Craven is a ridiculously overworked cliché here) who have to be involved somehow, but the most ambiguous character is David himself, who just seems to be a lost soul. My issue here is that, when all is said and done and the twist upon a twist is finally revealed, it becomes apparent that the journey David sends Bitsey on is POINTLESS.

It was all something that could have been revealed in a much easier way.

The acting is a little all over the place, which is said when you consider the cast. To be honest, despite the absurdity of the film itself, Spacey is actually very, very good. He really captures the destitution of this man, which is given multiple layers when the end is revealed and you see that his depressive nature is not really a result of his `impending death' but more or less because of his conscience weighing heavy on his shoulders. The script didn't deserve his dedication to the role. Laura Linney is effective, but her character comes off less human and more cliché. Like I said, Winslet = the greatest actress working today, BUT, her performance here is weak. She just doesn't do anything. I disagree with some friends who say she is Razzie worthy here (that is just plain dumb), but she doesn't deserve any accolades for this one. It's is a barely there, somewhat uneven (thanks to the thankless script) and desperate performance.

In the end it is the horribly constructed script that does this film in. It has an important message (the controversy surrounding the death penalty being legal murder is a strong one) but it is a message that has been perfectly developed in much better films (`Dead Man Walking' is one of the best films EVER MADE). This is a pointless, messy and aggravating film that had all the elements to be perfection but wound up being a BIG mistake.

Intellectual Dishonesty is Still Dishonest

Reviewed by The JuRK, 2009-12-08

There is a serious, thoughtful film that revolves around the death penalty issue...but it's not this one. It's called DEAD MAN WALKING. And even though it stars liberal actors Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn under the direction of uber-liberal Tim Robbins, that film considers all sides to the issue and doesn't come up with any easy answers. Definitely check that one out.

But THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE, despite some powerhouse actors, is a train wreck of a movie.

The plot itself doesn't just concede that the anti-death penalty activists cannot win the debate on their own arguments, it would also have a tough time winning its argument using every lie and manipulation in their bag of tricks...kind of like the Democratic Party right now.

With each revelation, usually always in the form of a videocassette hanging in a motel room, you get the idea that the activists would do anything--in fact, the very crime that would call for a death penalty--to get their point across and to impose their beliefs on everyone. I believe that's called fanaticism. Ultimately, there are no innocent victims in this story and in some weird way, you end up disliking them for their fraudulent behavior at manipulating a serious issue.

Is something worth winning if you have to lie to everyone to get it?

This could've been a completely different movie if that had been considered. And that movie would've had characters you cared about.

But not this one.

(Still love Laura Linney though.)

excellent business transaction

Reviewed by Kelli D., 2009-10-27

The movie arrived in mint condition and on time just like it was advertised. No problems!

Badly Flawed Polemic Against the Death Penalty

Reviewed by maskirovka, 2009-08-18

I didn't see this movie when it came out, largely because I knew it was a strident anti-death penalty movie (with this being said: I did see and appreciate "Dead Man Walking" because that was well-made propaganda and made an effort to see both sides of the story).

The only reason I watched it six years after the fact is because I've grown into a huge fan of Kate Winslet. Sadly, while she's a great actress and does her best, "the Life of David Gale" sinks because of various flaws and premises.



The movie wears its politics on its sleeve to put it mildly. Cracks like, "You can tell you're in the bible belt by the fact that there are more prisons than Starbucks" and referring to the Governor of Texas (a stand-in for George W. Bush) as a "frat boy" abound.



Kate Winslet continues to show that she can do a convincing American accent. This being said, she came across as a bit too young and "soft" to be a tough, aggressive prize winning journalist. Also, whoever gave her character the first name of "Bitsey" was an idiot. I can't imagine a journalist going by that name being taken seriously by anyone.

Kevin Spacey has a commanding presence, and I found him very believable as a philosophy professor and fanatical ideologue who had his life fall apart because one mistake.

Laura Linney did a good job playing Kevin Spacey's fellow activist.

The ex-student who seduced David Gale and accused him of raping her was very sexy, but I thought she was a little too mature to be even a graduate student.

The actor playing the Governor had an unenviable job of playing a caricature. I can only contrast it with the way that "Dead Man Walking" depicted people who supported the death penalty. Those characters came across as "real people"...not the product of fevered imagination of people on one side of the political debate.



I thought that it was a little too implausible that David Gale would be one moment falling down drunk at the party where he was falsely accused of rape, and the next moment making vigorous love to the hot ex-student.

Another laughable flaw in the story line was how they telegraphed that Bitsey Bloom's car was going to break down at a critical moment. The idea that she wouldn't have gotten one that was working properly was ludicrous.

Watching this movie one would be left thinking that the only reason why we have the death penalty in the US is because evil politicians have forced it on us. That's not right. Instead, we have it because by a large majority, Americans support the death penalty and its constitutionality has been affirmed over and over again by the courts.



The premise of the movie is that David Gale and his colleague (Laura Linney's character) could not come up with a good response to the challenge, "Name one innocent man put to death in Texas." So they decided to create such a case. Laura Linney's character was dying of cancer, so she did not value her life. David Gale was a driven, embittered fanatic who didn't value his so much either.

So they made it look like David Gale brutally raped and murdered her and they allowed what one Supreme Court justice has called the "machinery of death" take over. David Gale was duly convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to die.

Enter Bitsey Bloom. Gale and his friends chose her to break the story after Gale's execution. This story was that Gale did not rape and murder his friend and that the State of Texas did wrongly execute an innocent man.

Supposedly, this news story --which would be a blockbuster-- caused a 17 point drop in support for the death penalty.

But in my humble opinion, the reaction of many Americans would be "What fanatics Gale and his friend were!" It would not be "Wow, I never realized how wrong the death penalty was before."

Think about it. Gale and his friend basically entered into an elaborate conspiracy to obstruct justice with the intent of framing someone...only their target was David Gale. They are the ones who were responsible for Gale getting convicted, sentenced to death, and executed. The system didn't "fail" because of the system's faults. The system failed because of what they did. It wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for them. Gale may not have been guilty of rape and murder, but he was guilty of committing suicide using death row as the weapon.

Bottom Line: "The Life of David Gale" has an interesting premise but in the end, it all amounts to the sort of cheap theatrics that the anti-death penalty crowd so frequently engage in...arguing that someone is completely innocent and blameless when the evidence ultimately proves him otherwise.