The film was well received by critics . Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95 % positive rating based on reviews from 59 critics , with an average rating of 8.2 / 10 Metacritic gives it a rating of 80/100 based on reviews from 26 critics , indicating " Generally favorable reviews . " Hal Hinson of '' The Washington Post '' commented : " What this intelligent , balanced , devastating movie puts before us is nothing less than a contest between good and evil . " Kenneth Turan of '' The Los Angeles Times '' described the acting : " For this kind of straight-ahead movie to work , the acting must be strong without even a breath of theatricality , and in Penn and Sarandon , '' Dead Man Walking '' has performers capable of making that happen . " Roger Ebert of the '' Chicago Sun-Times '' gave the film four stars , his highest rating , and called it " absorbing , surprising , technically superb and worth talking about for a long time afterward . " At the 68th Academy Awards , '' Dead Man Walking '' was nominated in four different categories : Susan Sarandon won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role , Sean Penn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor , Tim Robbins was nominated for Best Director and its main track " Dead Man Walkin ' " by Bruce Springsteen was nominated for Best Original Song
68th Academy Awards
68th Academy Awards
Dead Man Walking (film)