Susan Hayward won best actress for this film. Yes I know this. It seems like she was yelling the whole film , with the same whiny tone.
shareI didn't think of it as "whiny," but I definitely call it "overacting." It was so over-the-top at times.
share[deleted]
I love Hayward, but I agree with you. Her overacting kinda (especially when she was trying to be sassy/funny) ruined this film for me.
"Everybody has their opinion, and yours is wrong." -Dave Barry
[deleted]
Susan Hayward was unbearably hammy. As usual.
shareHayward was playing the big movie star slumming it as a trashy call girl who gets the lethal injection. Agreeing to play the part alone in a film that delves into a still fresh and controversial event guaranteed her the Oscar and all those other awards.
Today, the issue tackled in the movie isn't so fresh anymore thus Hayward's awful performance has become very noticeable.
Her performance was NOT "awful ", but brilliant.
shareSo true...I just rewatched this movie on TCM. She is very melodramatic, but tones it down in the final deathrow scenes, so I'm wondering if Hayward played it that way because that's how Barbara Graham behaved in real life. In addition to the Oscar, she won the NYC critics award and a Golden Globe. And she was usually pretty good in her other movies like I'll Cry Tomorrow.
[deleted]
Her performance in this film never registered to me as overacting, but that may be because I always assumed the real-life Barbara Graham was an outrageous personality. Pillarinhavana notes how she takes it down a few notches as her death approaches, and I always assumed that was calculated too; that Hayward was deliberately toning down the hysterics to further drive home the gravity of the situation
share