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I Want To Live Details

1958 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 205 members

The electrifying Oscar-winning performance by Susan Hayward forms the foundation for the film noir classic I WANT TO LIVE! Hayward plays Barbara Graham, the real-life occasional prostitute and full-time con artist and perjurer who was charged with a murder she claimed she didn't commit and became the first woman to be executed .. Read more

Starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel
Director Robert Wise
Genres Drama

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I Want To Live

The electrifying Oscar-winning performance by Susan Hayward forms the foundation for the film noir classic I WANT TO LIVE! Hayward plays Barbara Graham, the real-life occasional prostitute and full-time con artist and perjurer who was charged with a murder she claimed she didn't commit and became the first woman to be executed in the state of California. Based on news articles by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ed Montgomery and letters from the actual Barbara Graham, the film chronicles the year or so before the murder of a wealthy widow and shows Graham's involvement with con artists Emmett Perkins (Philip Coolidge) and Jack Santo (Lou Krugman), who are also charged with the crime. After trying to break free of the underworld by marrying drug addict Henry Graham (Wesley Lau) and having a child with him, the spunky, good-natured but desperate Barbara leaves Henry and goes back to setting up gambling rings and ripping people off. It's not long before she and her partners, Emmett and Jack, are arrested for murder, though the film cleverly never shows the actual crime. What follows is a harrowing tale with Graham angrily, then desperately, proclaiming her innocence as she is put through the justice system. With an amazing jazz score by Johnny Mandel and director Robert Wise's quick pacing and frenetic vignettes, I WANT TO LIVE! is a gripping, tense melodrama.

Starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel, Phillip Coolidge
Director Robert Wise
Studio MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 56 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 03 May 2004
Production year: 1958
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of I Want To Live

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Four-time loser Susan Hayward finally won an Oscar for her riveting portrayal of Barbara Graham, whose wretched life saw her descend into prostitution, fraud, perjury and drug addiction before she was finally convicted of murder. She was framed, according to the stance taken here on the notorious 1955 case, reinforcing the power of the anti-capital punishment argument fuelling director Robert Wise's campaigning opus. It's the graphic depiction of Graham's brave march to her gas chamber execution that won over Academy Award voters to Hayward's side. In those classic moments she expertly communicates the cruelty and criminality of the death penalty.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006
  • 1 stars out of 4

    Sober, harrowing treatment of the Barbara Graham case, uneasily adapted to provide a star role amid the tirade against capital punishment.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
    • Posted 02 Mar 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of I Want To Live

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Tear Jerker

    Susuan Hayward gives a fine performance as a 'good time' girl who unwittingly gets herself involved in a murder case and ends up on death row.

    Based on a true story the film is a convincing argument against the death penalty.

      • Daniel Ward from Belfast
      • Posted 05 Apr 2005 12:02

  • Most recent members' review of I Want To Live

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  • Rated - 4 stars

    Customer Review

    This is a great film. It is based on the true story of Barbara Graham who was sentenced to death in the US in the 1950's and executed in a gas chamber. Susan Hayward won an Oscar in 1958 for her performance as the fiery, free spirited and abused good time girl whose life ends in tragedy when she is charged with murder along with two evil manipulative hustlers.

    I really liked this film it has all the passion of a 1950's melodrama or a Douglas Sirk film.Susan Hayward is marvellous as Barbara Graham and she portrays Graham's last moments as she awaits her sad fate with such conviction and intensity. It's a shame that Hollywood lost the talents of Susan Hayward in 1975 when her own life was tragically cut short when she died of brain cancer.

      • A customer from UK
      • Posted 23 Jun 2008 15:22

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Rating breakdown

205 Member ratings
  • 100
16
  • 90
20
  • 80
36
  • 70
37
  • 60
40
  • 50
23
  • 40
8
  • 30
9
  • 20
10
  • 10
6

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      • The electrifying Oscar-winning performance by Susan Hayward forms the foundation for the film noir classic I WANT TO LIVE! Hayward plays Barbara Graham, the real-life occasional prostitute and full-...