Editing I Want to Live! (section)

==Accuracy==
According to historian Kathleen Cairns, ''I Want to Live!'' "implied that Graham's guilt or innocence was largely irrelevant, that the real crime was committed by a justice system that framed her and a media that abetted the effort...&nbsp;In reality, the film took liberty with many facts of the case."{{sfn|Cairns|2013|p=114}} The film also suggests that Graham, though believed to have [[psychopath|sociopath]]ic tendencies in real life, was dangerous only to herself as a result of her loveless childhood and abusive mother.{{sfn|Cairns|2013|p=114}}

A prologue and epilogue contributed to the film by Edward Montgomery, the journalist who covered Graham's case for the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'', characterize the film's content, which largely portrays Graham as innocent of the murder, as factual. However, there may have been substantial evidence of Graham's complicity in the crime, including her taped confession to an undercover officer.{{sfn|Gilmore|2005|pages=288–291}} In an interview with [[Robert Osborne]], Susan Hayward admitted that her research on the evidence and letters in the case led her to believe that Graham was guilty.<ref name=osborne>{{cite AV media|title=I Want to Live!|medium=Telecast of film with commentary|last=Osborne|first=Robert|date=February 20, 2009|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]}}</ref>

Despite some of the liberties taken with Graham's story, the film's depiction of the California gas chamber was regarded as accurate.{{sfn|Papke|2012|p=440}}<ref name=stafford>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/78339|title=I Want to Live|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|first=Jeff|last=Stafford|url-status=live|archive-date=June 3, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200603040715/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/78339%7C0/I-Want-to-Live-.html|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref>