Whose Life Is It Anyway?
by John Badham
List Price:
Our Price: $17.99
You Save: $1.99 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $11.59 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Bob Balaban, Christine Lahti, John Cassavetes, Kenneth McMillan, Richard DreyfussDirector: John Badham
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Whose Life Is It Anyway?
DVD Review: Fast delivery
Summary: 5 Stars
I recieved my DVD in great condition. It also arrived within a week. I was very pleased with the service.DVD Review: A movie about a person's most intimate rights
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
DVD Review: A wonderful, touching story that has aged flawlessly
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
DVD Review: Whose life is it anyways?
Summary: 5 Stars
A great movie that provokes thoughtful discussions about the ethics of prolonging life at any cost versus the right to dieDVD Review: Best Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie back in the 70's. I cried the first time and each time I watch the movie. Best performance by Richard Dreyfus in my opinion. I was looking for this movie on VHS or DVD for many years. I am now very happy to have this DVD in my collection.
Description of Whose Life Is It Anyway?
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.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
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Frost/ NixonUniversal; Release date: 2009-04-21; DVD
Best price: $11.39
Price in other shops:
Lost in AustenImage Entertainment; Release date: 2009-04-14; DVD
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops:
AustraliaTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-03-03; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
DoubtRelease date: 2009-04-07; DVD
Best price: $14.43
Price in other shops:
True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series)Release date: 2009-05-19; DVD
Best price: $38.99
Price in other shops:
FireproofSony; Release date: 2009-01-27; DVD
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
The ReaderGenius; Release date: 2009-04-14; DVD
Best price: $12.30
Price in other shops:
The WrestlerTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-04-21; DVD
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops:
Marley and Me (Single-Disc Edition)Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $10.55
Price in other shops:
Slumdog MillionaireTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $10.40
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
A Life in Medicine: A Literary Anthologyby Joseph D'Donnell
New Press; Published: 2002-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.76
Price in other shops:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestWARNER HOME VIDEO; Release date: 1997-12-17; DVD
Best price: $6.02
Price in other shops:
Sicko (Special Edition)GENIUS PRODUCTS INC; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
"...First Do No Harm"STREEP,MERYL; Release date: 2002-09-03; DVD
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops:
Lorenzo's OilUniversal; Release date: 2004-04-06; DVD
Best price: $3.45
Price in other shops:
AwakeningsSONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 1997-09-10; DVD
Best price: $6.35
Price in other shops:
PhiladelphiaSONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 1997-09-10; DVD
Best price: $3.05
Price in other shops:
Gran Torino (Widescreen Edition)WARNER HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-06-09; DVD
Best price: $10.64
Price in other shops:
WitHBO HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2001-09-11; DVD
Best price: $3.64
Price in other shops:
The DoctorBUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2004-04-06; DVD
Best price: $5.44
Price in other shops: