User Reviews

Barbara Graham was a known prostitute with criminal associates. In the early 1950s, Graham and two men were accused of and arrested for the brutal murder of elderly Mable Monahan during the course of a robbery. Convicted and sentenced to death in California's gas chamber, Graham protested her innocence to the end--and many considered that she was less a criminal than a victim of circumstance and that she had been railroaded to conviction and execution. The celebrated 1958 film I WANT TO LIVE follows this point of view, presenting Graham as a thoroughly tough gal who in spite of her background was essentially more sinned against than sinner, and the result is an extremely intense, gripping film that shakes its viewers to the core.

The film has a stark, realistic look, an excellent script, a pounding jazz score, and a strong supporting cast--but it is Susan Hayward's legendary performance that makes the film work. She gives us a Graham who is half gun moll, half good time girl, and tough as nails all the way through--but who is nonetheless likable, perhaps even admirable in her flat rebellion against a sickeningly hypocritical and repulsively white-bread society. Although Hayward seems slightly artificial in the film's opening scenes, she quickly rises to the challenge of the role and gives an explosive performance as notable for its emotional hysteria as for its touching humanity.

As the story moves toward its climax, the detail with which director Wise shows preparations for execution in the gas chamber and the intensity of Hayward's performance add up to one of the most powerful sequences in film history. Ironically, Hayward privately stated that her own research led her to believe that Graham was guilty as sin--and today most people who have studied the case tend to believe that Graham was guilty indeed. But whether the real-life Barbara Graham was innocent or guilty, this is a film that delivers one memorable, jolting, and very, very disturbing ride. Strongly recommended, but not for the faint of heart.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Susan Hayward really knew how to pick a good role. From the intensity of 1947's "Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman", to the gutsiness of 1955's "I'll Cry Tomorrow", to everything in between, Hayward left a legacy of amazing characters. Even when the role was horrid (such as 1967's trash-fest "Valley of the Dolls"), Hayward was a real trooper and made it work. Always one to tackle unusual and, oftentimes, unglamorous roles, Hayward really got a chance to sink her teeth into this one - and received an Oscar for her efforts.

In this tough-to-take biopic, Hayward plays Barbara Graham, a party girl who gets in over her head with drug use, prostitution, perjury, and various other illegal acts. As a known "goodtime girl", she has a reputation with the local authorities. One brilliant sequence has the police tracking Barbara across town - apparent fellow neighbors are actually tapped and following her every move. Finally, a supposedly innocent "Babs" gets thrown in the slammer for the brutal murder of an elderly woman. Losing her sense of freedom and any contact with her baby boy, Barbara's life goes from bad (on the street) to worse (in jail). Watching Barbara act-up and defy authority in the prison is actually funny, but what happens next to this wild woman is no laughing matter. Things get as bad as they possibly can when Barbara realizes that she may have to face the gas chamber.

Hayward goes all out in portraying this fascinating character and is totally over-the-top, but completely on target, right up until the very end - and what an ending it is! It'll send shivers up your spine, and the images will linger in your head long after the show is over. The dark, moody photography is top-notch, although the rambunctious jazz score wears out its welcome.

This is the story of Barbara Graham, party girl and petty criminal, who was charged, along with two men, in the March, 1953, real life slaying of Mabel Monohan, a wealthy and elderly widow who lived in Burbank, California. Technically, "I Want To Live" is a high quality production. It has excellent B&W photography, superb editing, a jazzy score; and, it features Susan Hayward's Oscar winning performance as Barbara Graham, a young woman portrayed as independent-minded, tough as nails, feisty, defiant, vulnerable, and a good mother.

Both at the beginning and at the end of this Robert Wise directed film the viewer is informed that the story is "factual". But the screenplay never delves into the actual "facts" of the murder. We don't learn anything about the victim, her relationships, the crime scene, or any of a thousand important details that must surely have surrounded this high profile case. Instead, the film focuses entirely on Graham, and goes out of its way to portray her as innocent, in the Monohan murder.

Even a cursory review of available literature suggests that the film, while "factual" in some respects, is fictional in others. For example, in reality, the police did not capture Graham and her two male friends in a warehouse at night, as the film portrays; they captured the three in a seedy apartment in daytime. The film omits her addiction to heroin. In more than one way, the film presents Graham sympathetically, and as a victim of the criminal justice system. There's an interesting story about the film's producer, and his motivations for making this film the way he did.

Nevertheless, I am not convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she was guilty, mainly because I do not have access to the detailed "facts" of the Monohan case. After all these years, the truth regarding the murder has become cloudy, obscure.

It is the thick fog surrounding the real life case that makes the film's final thirty minutes so gut-wrenching, as we await Barbara Graham's fate. Suspense is heightened by a deadline-induced outcome that will either be black or white, all or nothing, but certainly not gray. In setting out to portray a woman wrongly accused of murder, the filmmakers have thus created an ending that is amazingly effective.

"I Want To Live" is a well made Hollywood production with riveting suspense. But keep in mind the film presents only the case for the defense, which may or may not be consistent with the truth.

Susan Hayward's powerful performance as Barbara Graham has been much written about, and it is the single best part of this film. But there are so many other perfectly pitched performances surrounding her as well, mostly by actors relatively unknown even to film buffs, or early turns by actors whose faces, if not names, did find a national audience--Virginia Vincent as Peg (she played the mother in The Hills Have Eyes), Gas chamber guard Dabbs Greer (the Rev. on Little House on the Prairie and Picket Fences), and especially Raymond Bailey who plays the San Quentin warden. His understated forthrightness and humaneness are a far cry from his later manic turn as Mr Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies (with the addition of a toupee). Robert Wise handles the execution preparations with a clinicism that turns the stomach more than any posturing would do, bringing the horror of impending death home. And following the clock's second with a moving camera closeup, instead of just cutting to the clock on the wall, done so many times, is craftsmanship of the highest order.

Good cinema has rhythm. Most classic cinema moves to the flow of orchestral film music, but for a certain kind of picture in the mid-50s to mid-60s, the images would skip to the modish sounds of bossa nova and free jazz. This isn't the most melodic or listenable music ever created, and often it was used simply to be hip and different. However, I Want to Live! has a jazz score that runs right through the picture, regulating its pace and complementing its relentlessly gritty tone.

The picture opens in a jazz club, in a short sequence which has nothing to do with the plot, but sets the scene. From this point on, a musical feel pervades the picture. The director is Robert Wise, an exceptional but seldom recognised filmmaker whose pictures had always been sensitive to rhythm, and would later win Oscars for directing musicals. Wise was an expert when it came to matching music, image and performance. In an early scene with a party aboard a boat, we hear some staccato Latin American music. The frame seems excessively crowded and filled with movement, while the lighting gives numerous shades of grey. The whole thing appears natural, but also looks precisely choreographed to the rhythm of the scene. At other times we get a slow, moody melody, and here the tones are stark and the movements lethargic. Even in scenes without music, there is a complex and eerie sound design of closing doors, photographers' flashes, telephone rings and suchlike, not to mention the sharp vocal delivery. This rhythmic approach, which is always present but never seems overdone, adds character to each moment, gives abrupt changes between scenes, and makes the whole picture fast-moving. Some commentators on Wise's career try to draw a line separating films like this from West Side Story, Sound of Music and so forth, but Wise's style and intention is consistent.

But the central pillar in I Want to Live! is of course the captivating performance of Susan Hayward. Hayward's acting is the size of a house, and she absolutely dominates the screen. However it is the littlest things that make this performance work – a tiny flash of her eyes or shrug of her shoulders. These small things are what bring out our sympathy for the character, while it is the powerhouse acting that gives the picture its passion. So overpowering is Hayward, that every other performance becomes somewhat forgettable. Except that is for Simon Oakland, who is rather impressive in his film debut, with a role which is complex because there is often a discrepancy between what his character says and what he is really feeling. Lou Krugman is also very memorable in his small role as Jack Santo, simply because he comes across as genuinely menacing and sadistic. No-one else really stands out, but at least no-one is conspicuously bad, and besides it helps to have a supporting cast that is a little bland because you would not want anyone to upstage Hayward.

We will never know for sure, but it is now widely agreed that the real Barbara Graham was in fact guilty, and while this movie never openly commits itself either way, it makes every allowance for the likelihood of her being innocent. However, the point of I Want to Live! was probably not to exonerate Barbara Graham, it was instead to demonstrate the horror and inhumanity of the death penalty. What matters is that we are convinced of the humanity of the character, and the desolateness of the situation. The ins and outs of the case are never really clearly defined, whereas the tone and force of the picture most definitely is.

Whether Barbara Graham was really framed for murder or not is never really the point of this melodramatic look at a woman on death row, played to the hilt by SUSAN HAYWARD in one of her gutsiest performances. The main point seems to be showing us what a devastating time any prisoner on death row has while waiting for that execution to proceed. And in this, Robert Wise succeeds with his powerful film about the accused murderess Barbara Graham.

That Hayward can actually make us feel sympathy for her character when she's depicted as a tough-talking, bitter dame who takes no nonsense from anyone (even those trying to help her), is a credit her talent as an actress who never tries to soften her portrayal of the party girl paying for a life of petty crimes that may include murder.

SIMON OAKLAND as a reporter who begins to have doubts about her guilt, is excellent. There's an almost documentary feel to the whole film and this is partly due to the uniform excellence of the entire cast, all of whom come across as real people. But the main credit must be given to director Robert Wise who does a fine job with some truly harsh material.

The jazz score background effectively balances the look and feel of the story. Well worth watching as an inside look at how justice sometimes works, while raising questions in the viewer's mind as to Graham's guilt or innocence.

This seems like a documentary film and is so powerful and persuasive that all the viewers would be forced to concentrate on it. Susan Hayward, a Hollywood actor out of Hollywood actors, is never trying to act well, but only "exists" in the film. She really deserved an Oscar of this year. All the other supporting actors are so real that they do not look like actors. Thus this film looks so contemporary that we cannot believe it was shot 50 years ago. Whether the ending is happy or not, such method of filming gives us a strong impression which lasts for a long time. I adore this film, which must be one of the best Robert Wise films, and it is a pity that relatively few people have seen it. I would be most delighted to advise all my friends and acquaintances to see it.

Barbara Graham (Susan Hayward) is an aged lying grifter prostitute. She's been in and out of jail. She willingly perjures herself for two cohorts and gets a year in prison. She is released to probation and joins two con-men. She tries for a family but her husband turns into a drug addict. The cops follow her and arrests her, Emmett Perkins and John R. Santo. She's arrested for passing bad cheques among many charges. The men throw her under the bus and claim she's the murderer. She becomes a media sensation and maintains her innocence throughout.

Hayward is terrific as a ballsy broad. She's not an innocent naive character although the movie portray her as innocent of the murder. The media sensation adds another layer to the movie. It is a bit hard to root for the character but Hayward makes the movie work. She gets to do some juicy acting as she prepares to be executed.

Loved Susan Hayward's work and the famous jazz musicians in the opening scenes. But, you need to read court records and the account of the LAPD lead investigator if you care about what really happened. This movie is largely a fictional account, written and produced by people against capital punishment. Which is fine--we have freedom of speech here. Freedom for Hollywood to pass off fiction as truth, and freedom for me to call them out on it. Two examples of unnecessary fictionalizing in an attempt to gain public sympathy for the anti death penalty movement: 1. She certainly wasn't going to visit her baby when they caught up with her--she was going after a fix. They knew her main drug supplier and had him under surveillance. They followed her back to the hideout from a drug score. 2. When the main LAPD investigator reached the hideout, there was no scene with people and spotlights out in the parking lot. It was a surprise bust--they forced the door and found Barbara and one of the two male gang members naked. Neither one a big deal, bust just examples to show you how full of chit the plot was.

This was not an enjoyable movie to watch. It's BASED on the true story of Barbara Graham, accused of murdering an elderly woman during a botched home invasion robbery attempt. But while the movie opens with a title screen stating its based on a "FACTUAL story gathered from newspaper reports, interviews..etc" - let me warn you, what you are presented is far from objective truth.

It bothers me that the film attempts to paint Ms. Graham as innocent - when all the facts I looked up on the case point to her guilt. It appears the movie may be trying to change the slant of the film in order to create sympathy for what was a despicable woman - in order to crucify the death penalty instead. So it isn't really Graham who is on trial, but the death penalty. Hollywood is quite good at promoting its own agenda at the expense of truth. I wonder how the murder victim's family felt after this film was released.

While I do hate this film's twisting of the facts, I do think Hayward gives a fine performance. All of her co-conspirators were adequately cast as well. I did find the musical score rather annoying. It's a kind of jazzy, bongo, neurotic mess. I guess it was used to help heighten the tension and discomfort of the audience - but I just found it annoying.

But regardless of what I saw of the technical merits or shortcomings of the film, I can't overlook the bottom line that the writers, director and producers decided to take the side of a despicable woman and try to make her look innocent - all for their own agenda of painting the death penalty as the true villain. I'm sorry, but the death penalty isn't who killed the poor widow Monohan.

I Want to Live was a film from it's inception was guaranteed to create controversy. There are all kinds of opinions about the death penalty and it's application all over the world. Barbara Graham's story, so fresh in the minds of the movie going public in 1958, was going to be a source of controversy.

Did she actually kill the widow Monahan? The film cleverly sidesteps that issue in the screenplay. What exactly was Graham's role in the botched robbery? All the people who could actually tell us are dead. Should a woman be subject to capital punishment. Ethel Rosenberg went to the electric chair on less evidence than Graham and for a crime that was not a homicide.

But all these questions aside, there is one absolute in this film. Susan Hayward gave a performance that must have been inspired by the angels. From the first half of the film dealing with her early life, the homicide she was charged with until the second half covering her sentence and her attempts to avoid the gas chamber, Hayward will keep you glued to your seat.

I can't imagine another actress in this part. She of course was the Best Actress for 1958, but in my lifetime only Hillary Swank in her role in Boys Don't Cry was the Oscar ever conceded before the envelope was opened at the ceremony. EVERYONE knew that both Hayward and Swank were winners going in, that's how good both of them were.

Susan Hayward was simply the best at her job. She had a number of great parts in Fifties and a few clinkers at the height of her career. But to get the Oscar for the part that was her signature role, made the ceremonies in 1959 a great occasion.

She's got a good cast of supporting players in I Want to Live, Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel, Wesley Lau, Phillip Coolidge. But it is Hayward's film totally.

A part like Barbara Graham given to an actress like Susan Hayward only comes along once or twice in a lifetime. Don't miss this one, however you feel about capital punishment.

Her acting in this movie has to be one of the greatest performances that she has ever done on film.The proof of the pudding shows the results. I saw the ACADEMY AWARDS for that year, after seeing the movie there was no doubt in my mind that she did indeed deserve the OSCAR.

Filmed in stark black and white as I think all films of this nature should be, one sees the stark realism unfold of a woman's already messed up and sad life become a pitiful situation of which there isn't a return. One of America's real true tragedies where a woman is used as a pawn by the judicial system so that the State of California can really punish those that should have been and were punished. If it weren't for Barbara Graham's final outcome, the bad guys would still be alive today. If you are like me and love criminology and hate injustice, you must see this picture. Susan Hayward gave the performance of a lifetime and deservedly won the Oscar for best actress. The piece has this blues/jazzy type of music in the background which I think makes the film more realistic because it was the type of music that Barbara Graham loved. Do yourself a favor and see this one.

Interesting and stirring film based based on life and death of Barbara Graham in which Susan Haywayd provides an unforgettable performance. At one time or another , she was convicted of forgery, perjury, prostitution , among other counts . Concerning the adventures and misfortunes of a party-girl of dubious moral standards who has been condemned for some petty crimes and misdemeanours . After that, she becomes involved in a crime, get caught , implicated and eventually sentenced for killing , finally sent to death row . Later on , some people start a campaign to save her from the gas chamber and concludes she was probably innocent of the last charge . The true story of Barbara Graham whose murder trial shocked the World ¡. Barbara Graham's Last Scream From Gas Chamber ¡.

This is a thought-provoking drama with emotion , thrills , sadness and awesome interpretation . The final scenes at the gas chamber , preparation , Susan Hayward's faces and execution are extremely powerful and moving . Here Susan Hayward as a brazen bad girl gives a very acting , though overacting at times, winning deservedly Academy Award . Susan is the main star and essential axis of this nice film, stealing totally the show, and shading other actors , but she is well accompanied by a frankly good support cast . As appearing as secondaries some familiar faces and delivering nice acting, such as : James Philbrook as her traitor husband, Simon Oakland as a journalist who becomes convinced that she may be innocent , Gavin McLeod, Theodore Bikel and John Marley as a priest .

Special mention for the atmospheric jazzy musical score by Johnny Mandel. As well as evocative cinematography in Black and White by Lionel Lindon . The picture was compellingly directed by the great director Robet Wise. This American filmmaker whose work became more variable as his career progressed , generally at his best with dark themes and in small-scale . His bursting as a filmmaker came when the great producer Val Lewton hired him for The Curse of the Cat People . His best movies are well clustered in ten years that followed from 1944-1953, such as : The Body Snatchers , Born To Kill , Blood on the Moon, and The house on Telegraph Hill. But his best movie of this fruitful period resulted to be The Set-Up with Robert Ryan . Later on, he realized a movie that triggered the revival of SciFi genre : the classy The Day the Earth Stood Still. Shortly affter , he made two jingoist WWII movies : Destination Gobi and The Desert Rats . Furthermore , another classic terror movie : The Haunting . And two very successful musical films : West Side Story and The Sound of Music . And other films of wide range and all kinds of genres such as : The Sand Pebbles, The Hindenburg, Star Trek the motion picture , Andromeda Strain, among others .

I surely hope someone somewhere can retrieve the great night Susan Hayward won her Oscar...I recall Kim Novak and James Cagney presenting the Oscar with Kim Novak in her fabulous voice asking Mr. Cagney to "hurry up" when he sliced open the envelope, as Cagney saying "And the Winner is Susan Hayward for "I Want To Live". Thunderous applause and Susan Hayward was in fact called back for a curtain call. Has that ever happened before or since? ( It was no easy win for Susan Hayward was competing with Four fine actresses Liz Taylor, Roz Russell, Deborah Kerr and Shirley MacLaine all in well regarded performances)

I cannot imagine any actress other than Susan Hayward in this part. Robert Wise expert direction creates enormous tension as we know that Susan's character is going to die in the gas chamber.

Susan Hayward, Robert Wise, Producer Walter Wanger, and cinematographer Lionel Linden deserve great applause for their fine work. Filmed at Goldwyn Studio not Susan Hayward's home studio 20th, I always felt this gave her both more freedom to lose some of her famous 'on camera tricks' and experiment more, and also sans Hayward's usual crew she may have felt more vulnerable..whatever Hayward's performance is a wonder and all actors and actresses should study Susan Hayward's fine work in this film.

Robert Osborne on TCM praises this performance as one especially noteworthy in the history of female film acting. Ms. Hayward won the New York Film Critics and Golden Globe Awards prior to her great Oscar win.

Ms. Hayward died nearly 40 years ago yet Ms. Hayward's work remains topical and powerfully moving. Few could show the agony of a woman the way Ms. Hayward could. Her death at a relatively early age deprived us of many more performances from an Artist noted for brilliant work.

This film is a major tribute to the divine Susan Hayward. Any actress who can take an amoral convicted murderess and arouse sympathy has accomplished something significant. It is a shame that she made so many movies, but there doesn't seem to be a single masterpiece that stands out today. Hayward is perfect 10 out of 10.

On other fronts, the movie is very dated, much more so than many 50's era pieces. Perhaps the black and white, dull surroundings, and frankly loud music add to the atmosphere. While the rest of the cast is credible, none of the others are very memorable.

This is mostly a liberal Hollywood propaganda film against the death penalty. Looking at what little evidence is discussed in the film, it seems likely that Barbara Graham was present as an accessory but did not commit the murder. Again, Susan Hayward 10, rest of movie 4-5.

Capital Punishment was, is, and probably always will be immensely controversial. "I Want to Live" offers an argument against the practice, approaching the issue with a fervently emotional message.

Susan Hayward (perhaps the finest work of her career) portrays the real-life convicted murderess Barbara Graham with urgency, strength, and sensitivity. We follow the story of Graham as she gets in trouble with the law repeatedly. Eventually, she is involved with a couple of thugs; a woman is murdered, and the three are accused. Which one actually killed the woman is uncertain. The movie provides information from Graham's trial (after she is implicated by the other two), but cleverly skirts the issue of guilt, and leaves the viewer to come to one's own opinion about this.

Whatever your view on capital punishment is, and whether or not you believe Graham was the actual killer should not skew your opinion of the movie; artistically, it's a gem. It is guaranteed to get you thinking about the issue of capital punishment, and some of the questions that are inherent in the arguments for and against it.

The final sequence of the movie is poignant and eloquent in depicting the preparations for a gas chamber execution. These images are haunting and will stay with you long after you see the movie.

This movie is artistic and masterfully done; but one must set aside preconceived opinions on the issue (pro OR con) to fully appreciate it.

Once-celebrated soap opera regarding hustler and maybe-murderess Barbara Graham, who got the gas chamber. Susan Hayward won the Best Actress Oscar, but for what? Spitting out lines like "It's nothing PERSONAL!", "I'm not your MAID!" or "Take it, it's all I've GOT!" (always with the inflection on the last word). It's a piece of non-acting, really, in the same dated vein as Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce"--which also got awards! The score is heavy on the bongos; it's jazzy all right, too jazzy. It provides all the nervy emotions that the screenplay couldn't put into words, but who wants the background score to do all the work? The direction is textbook, all the way up until the final moments, which aren't exactly subtle but do provide some much-needed tension. Graham gets a send-off, and for once the movie doesn't deteriorate into camp. **1/2 from ****

Hayward was a good actress who often went a bit off the rails. This portrayal borders on comedic at times, so the movie is hard to take seriously.