Top 50 Actresses, #15 - Susan Hayward: "I Want to Live!" (1958)

Movie Stats:
Released 1958 (USA)
American, in English
Director - Robert Wise
Stars - Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland

Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, petty crook Barbara Graham (Hayward) finds herself on the path to the gas chamber after she’s accused of participating in a murder. Oakland co-stars as Edward S. Montgomery, a journalist covering Graham’s case.

Warnings:
Violence; very minor gore; very minor blue language; implied sexy times; implied drug use (there is one brief scene where two men smoke what appears to be a marijuana joint but it’s never spoken of).

Bad Stuff:
Hayward’s performance, and the film in general, are occasionally melodramatic.

It’s too long. There are many scenes that could have been tightened.

Good Stuff:
I liked that it subtly explored the idea that—whether or not one believes in Graham’s guilt*—the jury and press viewed her more harshly because she wasn’t a “good” girl. I was frankly surprised to see that sentiment in a film from the 1950s.

Thankfully, it kept the trial portion to a minimum and focused instead on Graham’s life both before and after it. I particularly enjoyed the extensive “death watch” scene. It’s very intense. As someone who’s done a lot of true crime reading, it rang very true-to-life to me.

The jazzy soundtrack is fantastic!

About Performance:
While I did think that Hayward was sometimes too much, overall it was an excellent performance. Barbara Graham is a person who shouldn’t be likable. She’s brash and crass and rude. She’s her own worst enemy. So many times, I wanted to grab and shake her, but that’s only because it takes her far too long to realize just how serious the fix she’s in is. Hayward does a good job of portraying the vulnerability underneath Graham’s hard exterior. I never even heard of her before doing this list. I liked her enough that I would like to see more.

Other performances of Haywards I’ve reviewed: none.

The Verdict:
I expected this to be a solid film & it is. The story is told well, the performances are good, and the score is out of this world. Seriously, I’m not even the biggest fan of 1950s jazz but something about it really fit with the film and gave it extra panache. I don’t have any complaints other than what was posted above. This is probably one of the better films you’ve never seen.

I give it 4.25 stars.


*There are still a lot of questions as to Graham’s involvement in the murder. Depending on which source you read, she was either the killer or she wasn’t even at the murder scene. The film falls on the sympathetic side.