Rating: 
Summary: fantastic drama, a tour-de-force by Hayward
Review: I WANT TO LIVE is a stunning film starring the amazing Susan Hayward in her Oscar-winning triumph. Director Robert Wise (THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE SAND PEBBLES, STAR!) gives us an unforgettable film noir classic.The film tells the true story of convicted murderess Barbara Graham (Susan Hayward - TAP ROOTS, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS) who was sentenced to the gas chamber for her part in the robbery and murder of an elderly lady. Professing her innocence right up to the end, Barbara is a sly, sardonic but always-likable woman who wins the heart of the audience. Hayward's tour-de-force performance as Graham is vastly rewarding. Her multi-faceted portrayal of Graham is truly amazing. Highly recommended. The DVD includes the trailer.
Rating:
Summary: Susan Hayward's BEST
Review: I've seen this movie several times, on television and video and even now I can say that this is Susan Hayward's best movie. She won an Oscar for her performance as Barbara Graham, a woman unjustly accused of murder. Gritty film noir that still stands the test of time. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Story of Redemption
Review: If you want an anti-death penalty movie, rent "Dead Man Walking." This movie works best as a story of how Barbara Graham's heart and attitude changes as she approaches her execution. Susan Hayward's best performances come when she's at her sluttiest before her arrest and as she's waiting for her execution. Her hystrionic level when she's put in the slammer gets a little too high. She's best when she tones herself down. I bought the movie, for keeps around the time of McVeigh's execution, but I'm still hesitant to watch it again for a while. It cut too close to what was going on in real life.
Rating:
Summary: Hayward Masterpiece!
Review: Maybe I'm a bit partial, being an avid Susan Hayward fan, but "I Want to Live!" must rank as the perfect example of how to meld great story and super talent. Susan rightfully deserved her Oscar for her portrayal of Barbara Graham, a woman convicted and executed for a murder she denied to the end. All the key element of sophisticated film making come together to make this a treasure. They don't make them like this any more.
Rating:
Summary: Hayward Masterpiece!
Review: Maybe I'm a bit partial, being an avid Susan Hayward fan, but "I Want to Live!" must rank as the perfect example of how to meld great story and super talent. Susan rightfully deserved her Oscar for her portrayal of Barbara Graham, a woman convicted and executed for a murder she denied to the end. All the key element of sophisticated film making come together to make this a treasure. They don't make them like this any more.
Rating:
Summary: SUSAN HAYWARD. SUSAN HAYWARD
Review: She acts and reacts to the max. No actress at the time(1958) or today could pull off the extremes of such a character as convicted murderess Barbara Graham.We all know in reality she (Babs) was guilty of murder but Susan's perfomance evokes sympathy and convinced us of her innocence.Her restrained performance as a mother and victim facing the gas chamber won her the Academy Award. Her understated responses to the callous newswoman and gas chamber attendant reveal Miss Hayward's grasp of the material.Her art has to be seen to believe. She is an actress who lived her roles and gave us a legacy we will long remember.
Rating:
Summary: hayward steals the show
Review: Susan Hayward is BRILLIANT in an Oscar performance but Bloody Babs was guilty as sin not a victim as the movie wants us to believe...
Rating:
Summary: She Wanted an Oscar! (And She Got It, Too!)
Review: Susan Hayward made no bones about her career goals. She had come to Hollywood in the late 1930's not to become "just" an Actress, but a Star. It took a few hard years of playing supporting roles and minor leads, but eventually her talent and determination won out, and she broke through the ranks and achieved her goal. Having reached the top, she set her sights even higher, stating clearly that she was focused on winning an Academy Award. Her first nomination came in 1947 for the hard-hitting drama "Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman", but she lost to Loretta Young in "The Farmer's Daughter". Hayward would rack up three more nominations (for "My Foolish Heart" in 1949; "With a Song In My Heart" in 1952; and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" in 1955) before she finally hit Oscar paydirt in 1958 with "I Want to Live!" "I Want to Live!" tells the story of Barbara Graham, a wild party girl with a rap sheet a mile long who was convicted of murder in the early 1950's and executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin Penitentiary. The script whitewashes Graham's story, painting her as a more sympathetic character (i.e., "innocent") than she had been in real life, but Hayward comes through with a gutsy tour de force performance that provides the film with just the right amount of gritty toughness that elevates it out of the league of soap opera. Her Barbara Graham may be a "victim" of circumstances and a flawed legal system, but she is also loud, vulgar, crude, flippant, and antisocial, often working against her own best interests. And Hayward never hits a false note, provoking the audience to a strange mixture of contempt and compassion, repulsion and attraction. By the final scenes of the film, when Graham is at San Quentin with execution imminent, Hayward is able to gear down and underplay; she's done such a masterful job with her character thus far that the audience feels - and doesn't really need to see or hear - the turmoil within Graham as she resigns herself to her inevitable fate. It's a bravura piece of acting, and Hayward richly deserved the Oscar she won. The DVD is amazingly clear and sharp. The black and white cinematography is brilliant; the shadows in some of the San Quentin sequences - especially those in which the death chamber is readied - are startling. And the film-to-video transfer is flawless; watching on a large screen TV, I could actually see the freckles on Miss Hayward's collarbone and define the ridges on her fingernails in some of the final closeup shots. Happily, the Original Theatrical Trailer is included on the disc; what a shocker it must have been to movie-goers at the time since it includes the famous scene of Hayward being led back to her prison cell repeatedly screaming the profanity that Rhett Butler almost didn't get to utter on screen less than 20 years earlier! Definitely a must-have DVD for fans of great screen acting ...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fare written to showcase the lovely Miss Hayward
Review: Susan Hayward was one of the best actresses ever. I just love to watch her. The only real talent to come after her was Faye Dunaway. Anyway, "I Want to Live!" was Hollywood's scathing indictment of the death penalty and is the film for which Susan Hayward is best remembered. It is her Oscar-winning performance. Frankly, I liked her a lot better in "I'll Cry Tomorrow" "Smash Up: The Story of a Woman" and "With a Song in My Heart." I thought she was much better in those, but the Oscar had eluded her, so they wrote this screenplay full of plenty of dramatic scenes to get her the Oscar she rightfully deserved. It worked. The dialog and plot are excellent and her scenes as the condemned woman hours from execution are still extremely powerful today. In some ways, Susan Hayward was at her very best, and with the perfect script, a rare combination. You still sit there rooting for her to get that stay of execution in the movie, the movie grabs you that much. I've watched this film about 10 times, she never gets the stay, but the situations are so real, you root for one every time. The only thing that to me does not make this Miss Hayward's best role (apart from maybe a handful of scenes) is that Barbara Graham, the real-life death-row inmate portrayed here, was a low-budget, crude, herion addict who got along by using men, doing petty thefts and sometimes being a prostitute, and I don't mean the $100 an hour ones that come to your hotel room. We're talking low-class street woman. Miss Hayward is nothing of the kind, she doesn't have that look or manner. Though the prison and death penalty scenes and themes are excellently and realistically portrayed here, you feel like you're watching a wrongfully-convicted society woman, nun, or school teacher getting the gas chamber, not a two-bit street prostitute/heroine junkie/thief. I don't think this necessarily takes away from the movie much or how it grips you, but for this reason, I'm not sure I would rate this the best of Susan Hayward. The Oscar was righting previous wrongs, in my opinion. I highly recommend this film, and if you like it, try some of Susan Hayward's other films. She was really outstanding!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fare written to showcase the lovely Miss Hayward
Review: Susan Hayward was one of the best actresses ever. I just love to watch her. The only real talent to come after her was Faye Dunaway. Anyway, "I Want to Live!" was Hollywood's scathing indictment of the death penalty and is the film for which Susan Hayward is best remembered. It is her Oscar-winning performance. Frankly, I liked her a lot better in "I'll Cry Tomorrow" "Smash Up: The Story of a Woman" and "With a Song in My Heart." I thought she was much better in those, but the Oscar had eluded her, so they wrote this screenplay full of plenty of dramatic scenes to get her the Oscar she rightfully deserved. It worked. The dialog and plot are excellent and her scenes as the condemned woman hours from execution are still extremely powerful today. In some ways, Susan Hayward was at her very best, and with the perfect script, a rare combination. You still sit there rooting for her to get that stay of execution in the movie, the movie grabs you that much. I've watched this film about 10 times, she never gets the stay, but the situations are so real, you root for one every time. The only thing that to me does not make this Miss Hayward's best role (apart from maybe a handful of scenes) is that Barbara Graham, the real-life death-row inmate portrayed here, was a low-budget, crude, herion addict who got along by using men, doing petty thefts and sometimes being a prostitute, and I don't mean the $100 an hour ones that come to your hotel room. We're talking low-class street woman. Miss Hayward is nothing of the kind, she doesn't have that look or manner. Though the prison and death penalty scenes and themes are excellently and realistically portrayed here, you feel like you're watching a wrongfully-convicted society woman, nun, or school teacher getting the gas chamber, not a two-bit street prostitute/heroine junkie/thief. I don't think this necessarily takes away from the movie much or how it grips you, but for this reason, I'm not sure I would rate this the best of Susan Hayward. The Oscar was righting previous wrongs, in my opinion. I highly recommend this film, and if you like it, try some of Susan Hayward's other films. She was really outstanding!
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