Name: I Want to Live! (1958) | Keeping the Score Series
Start: 2025-09-17T19:00:00-04:00
Location: The County Theater

I Want to Live! (1958) | Keeping the Score Series

Be it a gentle piano interlude or a glorious orchestral fanfare, no element of filmcraft sets a movie’s tone and identity quite like the musical score. Film music has the power to underline a filmmaker’s narrative ideas, forge our bond to a heroic character, and move us to the point of tears. Join us all year long as we showcase cinema’s iconic composers whose musical talents enrich the images we see on screen and have us humming their unforgettable melodies as we exit the auditorium. The series continues in September with a rarely screened gem from Robert Wise- I WANT TO LIVE! 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀: countytheater.org/specials
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲: Susan Hayward gives a tour de force performance in this loosely biographical film about the life of habitual criminal Barbara “Bloody Babs” Graham. Expertly directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story, Sound of Music), the film traces the trajectory of her life as a petty criminal to a convicted murderer on death row in San Quentin. I WANT TO LIVE! satisfyingly walks the genre line of stylish film noir and provocative exploitation. Boasting six Academy Awards — including a well-earned Best Actress statuette for Hayward.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲: A conventional dramatic score would have proven entirely unsuitable for I WANT TO LIVE! and for Susan Hayward’s difficult, unapologetic performance. Composer Johnny Mandel, in his feature film debut, capitalizes on his strength with jazz to deliver an overwhelming and chaotic musical setting to underscore Barbara Graham’s equally chaotic and unapologetic life. When the law finally comes down on Barbara, however, that jazzy score dissipates, appearing more sparsely as the protagonist’s freedom and future slip mercilessly away. Mandel shows how film music can express a character’s core psychology in ways even the best scripts cannot quite achieve. He makes fully possible the viewer’s ability to see a frequently unlikable character with empathy and even sympathy.
𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 $𝟭𝟬!Become a member of our nonprofit theater for as little as $40 a year. Learn more at countytheater.org/membership