I Want to Live!

Based on the true story of Barbara Graham, the first woman sent to the gas chamber at San Quentin, the 1958 drama I Want to Live! stars Susan Hayward in her signature role. Although made under the strictures of Hollywood's Production Code, it is clear about exactly what kind of life Graham led before her arrest for the murder of an older woman (a crime for which she was most likely innocent). Prostitute, petty thief, grifter, perjurer, and all-around small-time criminal, Graham gave up the bad life for marriage and family, which subsequently fell apart, and she was later arrested along with her former partners in crime, who pinned the murder on her. Hayward is all passion and wit as Graham, who lives for the moment yet is honest and unapologetic and never betrays a friend or a partner. Based on newspaper coverage of the case and the letters she wrote from prison, the film is clearly on her side. Robert Wise directs with a mix of dramatic realism and film noir style, backed by Johnny Mandel's jazz-inflected score, which lends the film a jaunty energy. It's intelligent, adult, and unflinching, making a powerful case against capital punishment while also delivering a riveting drama. Hayward won an Oscar for Best Actress, and the film itself garnered five additional nominations. Simon Oakland costars as newspaper reporter Ed Montgomery, who initially smeared Graham in the press and then led the campaign for acquittal after he became convinced of her innocence. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)