| View Larger Image | Whose Life Is It Anyway? | DVDStarring: Richard Dreyfuss, John Cassavetes, Christine Lahti, Bob Balaban, Kenneth McMillan
Directed By: John Badham
| List Price: | $19.98 | |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 118 minutes | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | Warner Home Video | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.66:1 | | Release Date: | May 22, 2007 | | Sales Rank: | 15,584th |
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FEATURES | - Ken Harrison is an artist that makes sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident, and is paralyzed from his neck. All he can do is talk, and he wants to die. In hospital he make friends with some of the staff, and they support him when he goes to trial to be allowed to die.Running Time: 118 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR Age: 012569795532 UPC:&nbs
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Ken Harrison is an artist that makes sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident, and is paralyzed from his neck. All he can do is talk, and he wants to die. In hospital he make friends with some of the staff, and they support him when he goes to trial to be allowed to die. |
Amazon.com
In interviews, Richard Dreyfuss often refers to Whose Life Is It Anyway? as having been made at the nadir of his substance-abuse problem in the 1980s. Yet it's not too bad. Based on the hit Broadway play, it's a debate about the ethics of euthanasia and one person's right to choose whether to live or die. Dreyfuss plays a sculptor who, after a car accident, is left a paraplegic. Appalled at the prospect of a life in which he has no control of anything, he pleads with hospital authorities to help him die. When they refuse, he takes them to court. Dreyfuss brings great passion to a role in which he can't even use his body; the humor is often pitch-black, but it works, both as a script and as a cinematically opened-up version of a play. --Marshall Fine |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 31 reviews)
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One of Ken's favorite Richard Drufuss movies. by Ken Haney (Chicopee, MA. 01013)  5 Stars
October 24, 2009
One of Ken's favorite Richard Drufuss movies. Richard Dreyfuss often refers to Whose Life Is It Anyway? A popular debate about the ethics of euthanasia and one person's right to choose whether to live or die. Dreyfuss plays a sculptor who, after a car accident, is left a paraplegic. Appalled at the prospect of a life in which he has no control of anything, he pleads with hospital authorities to help him die. When they refuse, he takes them to court. A great drama with a sad ending but I feel this is one of my fafavorite Drufuss movies.
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Fast delivery by A. Gift For You 5 Stars
June 22, 2009
I recieved my DVD in great condition. It also arrived within a week. I was very pleased with the service.
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A movie about a person's most intimate rights by Schtinky (California) 5 Stars
January 23, 2009
The first time I saw this movie back in 1982 I cried. Watching it again, after all these years, still touches me deeply. There's a powerful message in this film, and the actors, script-writers, and director do it justice.
Ken Harrison is an artist, a sculptor, successful in his field and living with his beautiful girlfriend, when his life is changed forever by a horrible car accident. While his life was saved, Ken becomes a quadriplegic. Only able to move his shoulders and head, Ken feels helplessly out of control of his own life. His life, he says, was all in his hands, not in his head.
Six months later, as his existence is truly sinking into reality and Ken has recognized his condition is not something that will magically disappear one day, he tells his girlfriend to stop coming to the hospital and that its completely over between them. He also tells the hospital to stop their treatment, he's decided that his life should end. In an extremely powerful and poignant scene, Ken has refused the valium his doctor ordered for him, because the doctor felt he was too "riled up". The doctor injects him anyway, as Ken helplessly watches. "How dare you inject that into my body without my permission?" he asks. And I wondered, how dare he? It's a significant moment, imagine yourself as Ken impotently watching as someone does something to your very own body against your wishes.
Ken hires a lawyer, and sues the hospital for "Habeas Corpus" (literally, "give us the body"). No matter what his requests for release from the hospital and cessation of treatment, including daily dialysis, Dr. Michael Emerson (John Cassavetes) ignores them. Ken wants his treatment to stop so that he can die. Despite his desire to end his life, Ken is amiable with the staff. His funny, quirky personality has made him a favorite with the nurses and orderlies, and they are all saddened by his decision though they respect him enough to stand by him.
The question of human euthanasia is so controversial, especially after Dr. Kevorkian brought the subject out into the direct sunlight. The movie does a good job of portraying each side; Ken's personal decision to die and those around him who are morally and personally against it. It's a very touching story, one that will make you shed at least a tiny tear, even if your not prone to them. There's no sappiness or preaching getting in the way of the story. The acting, specifically Richard Dreyfuss, is terrific. It's a movie that stirs you emotionally, morally, and intellectually. Don't miss out on this great movie. Enjoy!
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A wonderful, touching story that has aged flawlessly by Anders Martinson (Oregon)  4 Stars
December 31, 2008
This is truly a great film with great performances at every level. Made during a time that seemed flush with "dying boy" melodramas, "Whose Life Is it Anyway?" remains engaging and relevant today. The economy of the dialogue gets right to the point for all characters, the physicians with their ideals, the girl friend who must deal with the loss of the man she loves, and the artist who lost the essence of who he is. It's refreshing and moving to see a script that spares us the sentimentality that so many similar stories indulge in. This makes the scenes of humor and warmth such as Ken's interaction with a young dialysis patient all the more meaningful.
The film digs deep into issues that we're still talking about today such as the physician's role in caring for the terminally ill and the patient's right to autonomy.
Dreyfuss and Cassavetes deliver solid performances, and while Cassavetes is our hero's adversary, he is by no means a villain, so regardless of where you stand on the issue, you will find your position fairly represented.
Well worth moving to the top of your netflix queue today or even as a title to own.
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Whose life is it anyways? by angel00seven 5 Stars
December 21, 2008
A great movie that provokes thoughtful discussions about the ethics of prolonging life at any cost versus the right to die
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