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IMDb > I Want to Live! (1958)
I Want to Live!
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I Want to Live! (1958) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   1,950 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 29% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Robert Wise
Writers:
Nelson Gidding (screenplay) and
Don Mankiewicz (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for I Want to Live! on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
18 November 1958 (USA) more
Genre:
Biography | Crime | Drama more
Tagline:
Barbara Graham's Last Scream From Gas Chamber...
Plot:
Barbara Graham is a woman with dubious moral standards, often a guest in seedy bars. She has been sentenced for some petty crimes... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 7 wins & 12 nominations more
NewsDesk:
Director Robert Wise Dies at 91
 (From IMDb News. 15 September 2005)

User Comments:
Black And White And Shades Of Gray more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Susan Hayward ... Barbara Graham
Simon Oakland ... Edward S. 'Ed' Montgomery
Virginia Vincent ... Peg

Theodore Bikel ... Carl G.G. Palmberg
Wesley Lau ... Henry L. Graham
Philip Coolidge ... Emmett Perkins
Lou Krugman ... John R. 'Jack' Santo
James Philbrook ... Bruce King
Bartlett Robinson ... District Attorney Milton
Gage Clarke ... Attorney Richard G. Tibrow
Joe De Santis ... Al Matthews
John Marley ... Father Devers
Raymond Bailey ... San Quentin Warden
Alice Backes ... Barbara, San Quentin Nurse
Gertrude Flynn ... San Quentin Matron
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Barbara Graham Story (USA) (working title)
more
Runtime:
120 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Finland:(Banned) (1959) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | West Germany:12 | UK:15 (video rating) (1998) | UK:X (original rating) (cut)
Company:
Figaro more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Film debut of Simon Oakland. more
Goofs:
Continuity: Keep an eye on the scene when the cops flush out the bad guys from the warehouse by calling them out one by one. As Graham cleans herself up in the mirror, the right side of her face is shown to be heavily scratched and her left cheek is clear, but as soon as she turns away to give herself up, the pattern is reversed. more
Quotes:
Barbara Graham: [before go to the gas chamber] Just this once, I wish it wasn't ladies first. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Golden Girls: Sophia's Wedding: Part 1 (#4.6)" (1988) more

FAQ

What does Barbara whisper to the priest just before she steps into the gas chamber?
Was Barbara Graham innocent or guilty?
Who is Barbara Graham?
more
40 out of 44 people found the following comment useful:-
Black And White And Shades Of Gray, 14 June 2005
Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

This is the story of Barbara Graham, party girl and petty criminal, who was charged, along with two men, in the March, 1953, real life slaying of Mabel Monohan, a wealthy and elderly widow who lived in Burbank, California. Technically, "I Want To Live" is a high quality production. It has excellent B&W photography, superb editing, a jazzy score; and, it features Susan Hayward's Oscar winning performance as Barbara Graham, a young woman portrayed as independent-minded, tough as nails, feisty, defiant, vulnerable, and a good mother.

Both at the beginning and at the end of this Robert Wise directed film the viewer is informed that the story is "factual". But the screenplay never delves into the actual "facts" of the murder. We don't learn anything about the victim, her relationships, the crime scene, or any of a thousand important details that must surely have surrounded this high profile case. Instead, the film focuses entirely on Graham, and goes out of its way to portray her as innocent, in the Monohan murder.

Even a cursory review of available literature suggests that the film, while "factual" in some respects, is fictional in others. For example, in reality, the police did not capture Graham and her two male friends in a warehouse at night, as the film portrays; they captured the three in a seedy apartment in daytime. The film omits her addiction to heroin. In more than one way, the film presents Graham sympathetically, and as a victim of the criminal justice system. There's an interesting story about the film's producer, and his motivations for making this film the way he did.

Nevertheless, I am not convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she was guilty, mainly because I do not have access to the detailed "facts" of the Monohan case. After all these years, the truth regarding the murder has become cloudy, obscure.

It is the thick fog surrounding the real life case that makes the film's final thirty minutes so gut-wrenching, as we await Barbara Graham's fate. Suspense is heightened by a deadline-induced outcome that will either be black or white, all or nothing, but certainly not gray. In setting out to portray a woman wrongly accused of murder, the filmmakers have thus created an ending that is amazingly effective.

"I Want To Live" is a well made Hollywood production with riveting suspense. But keep in mind the film presents only the case for the defense, which may or may not be consistent with the truth.

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Two points to raise brand78
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