MovieChat Forums > I Want to Live! (1958) Discussion > She's guilty, alright. Guilty of overact...

She's guilty, alright. Guilty of overacting!

posted 16 years ago by Ralph Monroe
28 replies | jump to latest

I can't believe Susan Hayward won an Oscar for her performance in this movie. I mean, it was completely over the top. She actually reminded me of Don Knotts as Barney Fife when he pretended to be a hardened criminal! I gotta believe the only reason she won had more to do with Hollywood's sanctimonious attitude toward liberal causes than Hayward's acting skills. In fact, I think Milburn Drysdale as the prison warden did a better job of acting- he kept a straight face whenever Susan hammed it up.

So, to sum it up in legal terminology: Get lost, you bum.

[–] Lazaka 16 years ago

lmfao...I know I was surprised to see she won an oscar, her performance was so overacted. Then again I have a friend who use to act (same as me)and she refuses to watch old movies due to this. I absolutely LOVE them and try to watch one a week. Obviously you and I just watched this at the same time, lol.

[–] MaeBeaBaeBea 16 years ago

Ralph! What are you doing here?

I watched this a few hours ago, and I agree with you. She overacted, and I think it was because she had no real "feel" for the type of woman she was portraying. She never came across to me as being hard, biting, and loose - she just seemed to be a pretty woman hamming it up for the cameras. Her character was totally unconvincing to me as the B-girl without brains. Susan Hayward couldn't have played a tough cookie if her life depended on it.

Tell him Angela and I don't want our two dollars back, just him.

[–] don-lockwood 16 years ago

She's not that exquisite-looking, and with her deep voice and fiery personality -- I think she was perfect in this movie. Not overacted, just a meaty role.

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[–] ophelia4538 11 years ago

Just because she was an alcoholic doesn't mean she wasn't a tough cookie.

[–] nikkilynn1982 14 years ago

I don't know about that, but this film must have been very stressful for Susan Hayward. Didn't she try to commit suicide shortly after the film was done?

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[–] macknife-2 14 years ago

yup....watching it now...Susan Hayward is awful....end of discussion....

[–] PatchouliAndPearls 14 years ago

I thought the same thing. I saw this movie yesterday for the first time and while the story is compelling, I kept thinking, "She won the freakin' OSCAR?! For THIS?!" Yikes.

[–] pelscc2000 12 years ago

I totally. Sometimes it was hard to feel sorry for her character's predicament because her acting was almost laughable.

[–] msladysoul 13 years ago

How would you have liked her to act?

[–] FANatic-10 12 years ago

I do have a certain fondness for Susan Hayward in some of her roles, but I really felt like most of this movie was just her rather typical over-emoting. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. Ultimately, too little of it convinced me I was watching a real person and not a Hollywood actress being tough. If I were to give a Best Actress Oscar in 1958 to a brassy, overdone performance, it would have gone to Rosalind Russell in "Auntie Mame", not Hayward in this highly cleaned-up "docudrama", technically well-made as it was.

[–] markedjuan 12 years ago

Glamorous movie star slumming it is a whore and convicted murderess. Through the entire film she never lets you forget that.

[–] hodie 11 years ago

I have a soft spot for Hayward. I enjoyed her in this film.

"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

[–] Two-Spacer 11 years ago

I think this is her best film, though I haven't seen them all.

....

[–] DeepFriedJello 11 years ago

I came to this board specifically to comment on her over-acting.
I'm wondering though if it is over-acting or just bad acting. I could see how this might work on-stage as a play, but this was just bad. Just canned dialog, no real emotion. But, I guess the director wanted it this way.
No way an oscar winning performance.

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[–] ophelia4538 10 years ago

Isn't over-acting just a subset of bad acting?

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[–] mediatext 9 years ago

Absoilutely. Susan Hayward in general was not a good actress, just a pretty face who confused superficially overemoting with acting. Very bad here and in many other of her maovies. Also, she always comes across as not a very nice woman in real life.