Unexpectedly stylish and hip direction (Robert Wise) in the early scenes along with a cool jazz soundtrack (Johnny Mandel) draw you into I Want To Live!, a feature that is essentially a commentary on the death penalty and trial by media.
Living a life on the margins and on the wrong side of the law, Barbara Graham (Susan Hayward) finds herself on death row for the brutal murder of an elderly widow. With time already spent inside for drug use, prostitution, perjury, there’s little sympathy in spite of claims of innocence. I Want To Live! is a enthralling character study of real-life goodtime girl Barbara Graham – from gambling dens to whore houses, marriage to motherhood, courtroom to prison.
With its intense, claustrophobic black and white cinematography (Lionel Lindon) and a superb, heartfelt, sassy Oscar-winning performance by Hayward, I Want to Live! is an unexpectedly gripping story – with some of the best lines ever!
Barbara Graham (on her arrest): I never even knew the dame.
Policeman: You know she’s been murdered, don’t you?
Barbara Graham: Yeah? So was Julius Caesar. I didn’t know him either.
Nominated for 6 Oscars in 1959 (including best director, adapted screenplay, cinematography), won 1 (best actress – Susan Hayward).
Rating: 65%
Director: Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, West Side Story)
Writer: Nelson Gidding (The Andromeda Strain, The Haunting), Don Mankiewicz (House of Numbers, Trial) – based on newspaper articles by Ed Montgomery
Main cast: Susan Hayward (With a Song In My Heart, I’ll Cry Tomorrow), Simon Oakland (Bullitt, West Side Story), Theodore Bikel (The Defiant Ones, The African Queen)
Cinematographer: Lionel Lindon (Going My Way, Around the World in 80 Days)
An Opinion or Two 