Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

You Only Live Once

Released Jan 27, 1937 1h 26m Crime Drama List
100% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 78% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings
Joan Graham (Sylvia Sidney) works as the secretary to the public defender. Unfortunately, she's fallen madly in love with a criminal by the name of Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda). Convinced that Eddie is a good man with bad luck, she pulls some strings and gets Eddie released from prison early. The two get married, but while Eddie tries to fly right, he soon discovers he can't change his nature. His past comes knocking at their door, and the couple is forced to go into hiding. Read More Read Less

Where to Watch

You Only Live Once

Prime Video

Rent You Only Live Once on Prime Video, or buy it on Prime Video.

Critics Reviews

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Joshua Polanski Midwest Film Journal If you were to put all of Fritz Lang’s films together and make a new one from the aggregate, that film would very closely resemble 1937’s You Only Live Once. Jul 4, 2024 Full Review James Baldwin The Devil Finds Work Lang's concern, or obsession, was with the fact and the effect of human loneliness, and the ways in which we are all responsible for the creation, and the fate, of the isolated monster: whom we isolate because we recognize him as living within us. Jan 17, 2024 Full Review Pare Lorentz McCall's It is a high tribute to Fritz Lang that although you know what is coming, he does keep you harrowed almost throughout the picture waiting for his inevitable dénouement. Oct 30, 2023 Full Review Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy) Esquire Magazine What a great director can do with a stale story. This would be the usual killer-row and jailbreak episode were it not for Fritz Lang's amazing ability to vitalize whatever he directs. Apr 20, 2020 Full Review Ann Ross Maclean's Magazine This picture has both excitement and genuine feeling, and is recommended for everyone, except the very young. Jul 22, 2019 Full Review Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Fritz Lang's second American film... remains one of his all-time greatest. Mar 26, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (59) audience reviews
Ashley H You Only Live Once a terrific film. It is about public defender's secretary and an ex-convict who get married and try to make a life together. Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda give fantastic performances. The script is good but a little slow in places. Fritz Lang did a great job directing this movie. I enjoyed watching this motion picture because of the drama. You Only Live Once is a must see. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/04/24 Full Review Audience Member Good. But it lost me early on when they don’t make it clear that Fonda is NOT the guilty one. The eyes we see in the car, just before the robbery, look almost exactly like Fonda’s. It fouls up the plot, and leaves the audience with a big ‘wait…huh?!’. If Lang just made it clear that Fonda is not that guy, and had less follow the shots of his hat, it would be solved. Otherwise a really worthy watch. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/07/21 Full Review Audience Member After leaving Germany, the first two films Fritz Lang made in Hollywood are his best American movies: Fury and You Only Live Once. This feature works on all levels and there's good reason. The artist was extended control over the entire film including final cut. That's something most directors at the time were never given. Lang's favorite themes of fate and destiny, and a cynicism about society are on sharp display here. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review jim b WOW, what TRASH. So this awful movie with Henry Fonda as an ex-con and soon to be on the run with a wife who is able to give birth like the Virgin Mary..... this whole thing is one of the biggest messes, the worst movie I've seen in some time...there's absolutely nothing redeeming about this whatsoever. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member A nice movie with a fascinating story Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Archetypal depression-era stars Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney are felicitously teamed in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once. Fonda plays an ex-convict who can't get a break on the "outside". He marries Sidney, who like her husband is one of life's losers. Framed on a murder rap, Fonda is forced to take it on the lam, with his wife and baby in tow. In trying to avoid capture, Fonda becomes a murderer for real, condemning himself and Sidney to an early demise. Partly based on the legend of Bonnie and Clyde, the Gene Towne-Graham Baker screenplay stacks the deck against its protagonists to such an extent that the audience is virtually forced to hate their various antagonists. As superb as Henry Fonda is in portraying the foredoomed hero, Sylvia Sidney is even better as his wife; her reading of such lines as "We just call him...baby" are enough to shrivel the heart even after six decades. Fritz Lang's second American film... remains one of his all-time greatest. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
You Only Live Once

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Fury 94% 89% Fury Scarlet Street 100% 87% Scarlet Street Black Legion 100% 58% Black Legion The Roaring Twenties 100% 89% The Roaring Twenties Stranger on the Third Floor 86% 64% Stranger on the Third Floor Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Joan Graham (Sylvia Sidney) works as the secretary to the public defender. Unfortunately, she's fallen madly in love with a criminal by the name of Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda). Convinced that Eddie is a good man with bad luck, she pulls some strings and gets Eddie released from prison early. The two get married, but while Eddie tries to fly right, he soon discovers he can't change his nature. His past comes knocking at their door, and the couple is forced to go into hiding.
Director
Fritz Lang
Screenwriter
Gene Towne, C. Graham Baker
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
Walter Wanger Productions, Inc.
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 27, 1937, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 23, 2018
Runtime
1h 26m
Most Popular at Home Now