I Want to Live! (1958)

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Nelson Gidding (screenplay) and
Don Mankiewicz (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 November 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Barbara Graham's Last Scream From Gas Chamber...

Plot:

Barbara Graham is a woman with dubious moral standards, often a guest in seedy bars. She has been sentenced for some petty crimes...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Bar | Parole | Female Bonding | Arrest

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 7 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Susan Hayward	...	Barbara Graham
Simon Oakland	...	Edward S. 'Ed' Montgomery
Virginia Vincent	...	Peg
Theodore Bikel	...	Carl G.G. Palmberg
Wesley Lau	...	Henry L. Graham
Philip Coolidge	...	Emmett Perkins
Lou Krugman	...	John R. 'Jack' Santo
James Philbrook	...	Bruce King
Bartlett Robinson	...	District Attorney Milton
Gage Clarke	...	Attorney Richard G. Tibrow
Joe De Santis	...	Al Matthews
John Marley	...	Father Devers
Raymond Bailey	...	San Quentin Warden
Alice Backes	...	Barbara, San Quentin Nurse
Gertrude Flynn	...	San Quentin Matron

Also Known As:

The Barbara Graham Story (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1959) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | West Germany:12 | UK:15 (video rating) (1998) | UK:X (original rating) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Figaro

Trivia:

Based on the life of Barbara Graham, whose murder trial and controversial execution in 1955 made her a cause celebre.

Goofs:

Continuity: Keep an eye on the scene when the cops flush out the bad guys from the warehouse by calling them out one by one. As Graham cleans herself up in the mirror, the right side of her face is shown to be heavily scratched and her left cheek is clear, but as soon as she turns away to give herself up, the pattern is reversed.

Quotes:

Barbara Graham: I never even knew the dame.
Police lieutenant: You know she's been murdered, don't you?
Barbara Graham: Yeah. So was Julius Caesar. I didn't know him either.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in George Stevens: The Filmmakers Who Knew Him (2001) (V)

A Role That Comes Along Once in a Lifetime

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.