I Want to Live!
1958, NR, 120 min.
Directed by Robert Wise, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel.

Susan Hayward pulls out all the emotional stops (and earned an Academy Award for her efforts) in this dramatic tearjerker based on the life of Barbara Graham ñ a prostitute, card sharp, and perjurer who was convicted of murder for a crime she allegedly didn’t commit. Her harrowing experiences in the justice system earn the exclamation point that accompanies the title’s plaintive refrain. Director Wise is still stylistically at the top of his game here before he began his journeyman descent into directing blockbusters like West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Also of note is the jazz score by Johnny Mandel and jazz combo members that include the likes of Art Farmer and Gerry Mulligan.

This article appears in June 14 • 2002.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.