"(P)arty girl Barbara Graham...was a fairly small-time grifter who did what she could for a buck, including prostitution and aiding her boyfriends in robberies and various hustles. She went to the chair for a murder she vehemently denied having committed, claiming she did a lot of things but murder wasn't one of them. Guilty or not, the state of California fried her, leaving her small child motherless and Susan Hayward the opportunity to tear up the screen in a highly sympathetic performance...Hayward reflected perfectly the glamorous but shaky character of a woman in transition, not knowing quite what she's doing or where she's going, behaving alternately tough and vulnerable while retaining the vanities expected of a goodlooking gal. As Barbara Graham, the necessity of another lifetime in order to get it right fits the Hayward profile. If ever there was a woman's movie made in the '50s, this is it. All that's stacked against a woman is in evidence here, and for a chick who's trying hard to be a stand-up guy it's especially gut wrenching." --Barry Gifford