I Want to Live!

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Summary: I still have nightmares from this film.
Review: The scene from the gas chamber gave me chills

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Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: THE STORY OF BARBARA "BABS" GRAHAM IS BOTH CHILLING AND SAD. SUSAN HAYWARD'S ACTING IS SIMPLY OUTSTANDING. WHAT AN ACTRESS SHE WAS.....

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Summary: I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK IT A GOOD BOOK
Review: this book was a very very good book for a person who likes sad books i know i do i love this book. i encouage every body to read this book. END

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Summary: WOW
Review: This is a fantastic portrayal of both the inhumaness of the death penalty and how 'the media' is all too powerful. It is a scary insight for modern times, for it was filmed years ago. The last part of the film, centering around the gas chamber is especially chilling.

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Summary: THOSE WHO WATCH THIS FILM WILL ALSO WANT HER TO LIVE...
Review: This is a somewhat dated film, extolled at the time as "one of the year's top dramas" by Variety. It is based upon the true story of convicted murderess Barbara Graham. In it, Susan Hayward, a beautiful and previously underrated actress, gives a performance that won her the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actress. She plays the role of Barbara Graham, a young woman who went to the gas chamber in California for the murder of an elderly woman who was killed during the course of a burglary/robbery.

Barbara Graham was a beautiful young woman, a graduate from the school of hard knocks. She was an amoral, hard-living party girl, who, together with her friend, Peg (Virginia Vincent) , spent her time boozing and looking for love in all the wrong places. Susan and Peg would both eventually come to a fork in the road that would end up being a crossroad in each of their lives. Peg took one fork and ended up marrying Mr. Right, living a normal life. Barbara took the other fork and began a downward spiral that ultimately would not bode well for her. Barbara had a knack for surrounding herself with those for whom the lowest common denominator was the standard. She ended up marrying Mr. Wrong, and it is no surprise when her marriage heads south. With her marriage on its last legs, Barbara ends up leaving her husband and dropping their baby off to live with its paternal grandmother,

Barbara opts to hang around the wrong crowd, moving in with a former associate who, along with some of his cronies, has just done something very bad. It appears that they killed an elderly woman during a botched burglary/robbery. When all of them, including Barbara, are arrested for this crime, Barbara is left holding the bag, framed by the actual killers for something for which she claims to be innocent. Once accused of this heinous crime, she is pilloried in the press, railroaded by the blood lust of the fourth estate. The press portrays her in the headlines of the day as "Bloody Babs", a wanton killer without a conscience who pistol-whipped an elderly woman to death. Moreover, Barbara continues to make bad choices that only serve to solidify the case against her. She is ultimately tried, convicted, and sentenced to die in the gas chamber.

The film focuses on Barbara's supposed innocence in the capital murder of which she is accused, making it seem as if she were nothing more than a victim of her penchant for making bad choices. Through the post-conviction, professional assessment of a psychologist/criminologist named Carl (Theodore Bikel), the film establishes the supposition that Barbara is incapable of the violence mandated by the crime for which she is to be executed. A reporter, Edward Montgomery (Simon Oakland), also gets into the act on this issue, as he ends up doing a three hundred and sixty degree turnaround in terms of his belief as to her involvement in the murder. He tries to rally the public to Barbara's now frantic cause, using the very same medium that had previously excoriated her.

The last half hour or so of the film is a tense one, as the film moves inexorably towards the execution, while efforts to stave off the inevitable by those who believe in Barbara's innocence are stymied at every turn. The methodical preparations for Barbara's execution, as well as the preparation of the gas chamber itself, are a stark reminder of the reality of this now antiquated form of execution. It is a grim, relentless, and chilling depiction. It is especially so, as the film is slanted to tug at the viewer's heartstrings by making it appear that Barbara Graham was totally innocent. In reality, the facts were quite different. While Barbara may not have been the actual killer, there is little doubt that she was guilty, as she acted in concert with the killers and was fully involved, facilitating the events that brought about the death of the elderly woman in question. The real Barbara Graham was no passive gun moll.

Susan Hayward gives a fine performance as Barbara Graham, though it is somewhat dated in style. She makes Barbara into a somewhat pitiable character, a bad girl who is really a good girl down deep, and who, but for her knack for making bad choices, might have ended up living a much different and better kind of life. Ms. Hayward gives a basically unlikable, hard-edged character a vulnerability that makes the viewer root for her and hope for an eleventh hour reprieve. The supporting cast also give excellent performances. Moreover, the jazz laced score adds the right kind of moody, edgy ambiance to the film, setting the right tone for this true crime/prison drama. This film, deftly directed by Robert Wise, is well worth seeing.

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Summary: Doesn't Live Up To Its Reputation
Review: This is a terrific script with a sound argument against the death penalty especially where there is room for doubt as to the person's guilt. For me, the film's major flaw is Susan Hayward. She plays it from her throat and not from inside herself. I was astounded as to how forced her performance was especially knowing that she won the Oscar for it. I wanted to like this otherwise well scripted and filmed movie, but I just can't get passed that performance.

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Summary: Great Drama; Falsified History
Review: This is certainly a great and gripping movie. It is also a lie. Contrary to the Minnesotan's review, Barbara Graham was guilty and got what she deserved. There is no reasonable doubt.

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Summary: Hayward's Triumph
Review: This is one of the best of the 50s "issue" dramas, and it contains Susan Hayward's finest performance. The debate over the film's interpretation of Barbara Graham's innocence or guilt has always been controversial, but it in no way reduces this film's entertainment value. Robert Wise directs it with stark, briskly paced attention to detail, and the performances are uniformly vivid and realistic. The screenplay is both intelligent and clever, with the spicy, charged dialogue practically spilling off the screen. Unfortunately, no character registers with substantial impact other than Hayward's star turn, but that seems to have been the filmmakers' intent. This makes it a bit hard to fully appreciate the impact Barbara Graham's social milieu had on her fate. Still, the film is never less than riveting and Hayward pulls out all the stops. At times, she does seem awfully aware that a camera is trained on her, much in the way classic Hollywood stars always were in those days. At other times, however, she allows herself a level of emotional honesty rare on the 50s screen, and she lets Graham's rough-and-tumble nature spew out in fearless fashion. This is both a calculated and spontaneously raw performance, which is curiously contradictory, but an accurate description of Hayward's dychotomous acting style. Her worst tendencies, posing or eyes on the horizon optimism with an all-Hollywood gleam in her eye, are rarely evident here, replaced by a raw energy and gutsy emotionalism that few actresses could muster. The final scenes on death row are deservedly remembered for their shattering effectiveness. They denounce the concept of the death penalty as no politicizing could ever do. This well edited film is not easy viewing, but it's worthwhile and challenging. "I Want to Live!" deserves its classic status. Rediscover Susan Hayward in all her glory.

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Summary: Rita Hayward at her VERY BEST
Review: This is the tear jerker of them all. Ms. Hayward gave a performance that could never be surpassed by any actress of today. She was a her very best. It still gives me chills when I think of BAB's last hours on earth.

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Summary: Jazz Score is Good -- Truth takes a Beating
Review: This movie is good for entertainment only. The music is fabulous, and the story line is riveting.

HOWEVER, do not confuse this film with the factual story of one Barbara Graham, convicted of murder and executed at San Quentin on June 3, 1955.

OK for entertainment but unfortunately at the expense of truth, Ms. Graham is not recognizable in the character played by Susan Hayward. Ms. Graham was a tough, heroin-addicted, 2-bit street prostitute who had already left behind 3 previous husbands and 2 other children before she deserted Henry Graham and their toddler. She saw an opportunity to participate in a burglary where the potential prize was up to several hundred thousand dollars kept in a safe in a Burbank residence. An elderly, handicapped lady lived there. Ms. Graham was asked by the Santo-Perkins gang to knock on her door and pretend to have car trouble since she might not open it to strange men at night. Two of the five people who invaded that house implicated Barbara in the actual violence. One of those men (Baxter Shorter) was kidnapped and murdered before he could testify in court. The other (John True) turned state's evidence.

Before he died, the warden at San Quentin who supervised her execution told two different people what a burden it was for him to carry around Barbara's confession and keep it to himself for so long. She had told the warden that she had indeed split open Mrs. Monahan's head. The warden had asked the confession to be kept a secret since he didn't want to be the one who caused her family and friends to hear of her actual guilt if they thought her innocent. He felt that correctional staff had no business with guilt or innocence anyway and should just carry out the orders of the court.

The entire reason there was ANY controversy over who invaded the Monahan home, beat her savagely, and then smothered her with a pillowcase, was because of the misleading, untruthful movie "I Want To Live."