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In addition to being a decade too old to play real life murderer Barbara Graham, Susan Hayward chews the scenery so hard in this soapy drama, you can practically hear the wallpaper crunching between her teeth.

Based on the events and trial surrounding the real life murder of Mabel Monahan and the three people who killed her in the hope of finding a hidden stash of cash that wasn't there, this film is a vastly overrated piece of silliness meant to garner sympathy for the former prostitute nicknamed "Bloody Babs" by the press.

Hayward certainly does no favors to the real life Barbara Graham, what with her ridiculous histrionics and constant shouting outbursts. She could've benefited by watching the more measured performances of her co-stars, like Simon Oakland as Ed Montgomery, the journalist who told Barbara's story, Virginia Vincent as Barbara's devoted friend Peg, and Alice Backes as the prison nurse who becomes Barbara's death row ally.

The final gas chamber sequence was no doubt harrowing and shocking to 1958 audiences, and it's this scene alone that may have gotten Hayward her Academy Award, but despite your views on capital punishment, the entire film comes off as a chronicle of a scandalous homicide that just plays fast and loose with the facts.

Hayward got her gold statuette for this one, but it should've gone to Rosalind Russell for Auntie Mame or even Shirley MacLaine for Some Came Running.

Within the first minute of "Breezy," Clint Eastwood gives us a close-up of Kay Lenz's enormous right breast. We see her breasts several times again throughout the film, as if Eastwood was more interested in getting them on display rather crafting a cohesive May-December romance.

Don't get me wrong. "Breezy" has its moments, but Eastwood was clearly taking advantage of the new wave of 1970s bold filmmaking and wasted no opportunity to incorporate gratuitous female nudity into this one.

I had trouble believing that William Holden's character would be so willing to let this flighty young girl work her way into his life so effortlessly. In reality, someone like Holden would have called the police and possibly obtained a restraining order against her.

And even once Holden gives in, it's hard to understand what's drawing these two together. I understand Lenz's character gravitates to Holden because he feeds her, bathes her, buys her clothes, and gives her a place to sleep. But what does he really get from her?

Screenwriter Jo Heims does get some very touching and heartbreaking dialogue in at times, particularly when Breezy asks Frank if people his age look in the mirror, give in to their appearance, and give up on happiness. Pretty heavy stuff to consider.

Ultimately, though, the core of the connection between these two oddly matched people is missing, and it was difficult for me to root for either of them.

As an early 1970s time capsule and a look at Los Angeles at the start of a decade where the culture was clearly shifting, "Breezy" is worth a look, but Eastwood was still getting his directing legs with this one.