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I Want to Live!

I Want to Live!

Drama · Crime · 1958

Brazen perpetual offender Barbara Graham tries to go straight but she finds herself implicated in a murder and sent to death row.

Movie details

I Want to Live!

“The murder trial that shook the world!”

1958 Drama · Crime 2h 0m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

Brazen perpetual offender Barbara Graham tries to go straight but she finds herself implicated in a murder and sent to death row.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over I Want to Live!?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

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A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom into a hoax in an attempt to expose ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan is to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female nightclub dancer. Once Tom is found guilty, he is to reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.

The Unforgivable

The Unforgivable

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A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.

Monster

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In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.

The United States of Leland

The United States of Leland

Crime · 2003

A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Drama · 2019

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

Infamous

Infamous

Drama · 2006

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

Monster

Monster

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The story of Steve Harmon, a 17-year-old honor student whose world comes crashing down around him when he is charged with felony murder.

True Believer

True Believer

Crime · 1989

Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.

No Man of God

No Man of God

Crime · 2021

The complicated relationship that formed between the FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier and serial killer Ted Bundy during Bundy's final years on death row.

The Onion Field

The Onion Field

Crime · 1979

An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Wise

Written by

Ed Montgomery · Nelson Gidding · Don Mankiewicz

Susan Hayward

Susan Hayward

Barbara Graham

Simon Oakland

Simon Oakland

Edward S. 'Ed' Montgomery

Virginia Vincent

Virginia Vincent

Peg

Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel

Carl G.G. Palmberg

Wesley Lau

Wesley Lau

Henry L. Graham

Philip Coolidge

Philip Coolidge

Emmett Perkins

Lou Krugman

Lou Krugman

John R. 'Jack' Santo

Court is in session

Put I Want to Live! on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.