Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard_360P

Joe Gillis is floating face down in a pool and tells his story.That story tells how he met Norma Desmond, a big star from the silent era who now is forgotten by the people.She's planning a major comeback with a script of Salome.She wants Joe to help her with the movie.The movie's no good, everybody can see that, but Joe still stays around to help her.Soon he realizes that it was a big mistake.Sunset Blvd. (1950) is a masterpiece from the master called Billy Wilder.The actors are really unique.William Holden is superb as Joe Gillis and Gloria Swanson, an actual silent film star, is absolutely brilliant as Norma.Erich von Stroheim does a wonderful job as Max von Mayerling and so does the beautiful Nancy Olson as Betty Schaefer.In cameos you can see people like Cecil B.DeMille and Buster Keaton.The movie is something really special from the beginning till the end.You can't see movies like this these days.Now we don't have directors like Billy Wilder to make them.In his movies everything usually worked.Especially the dialog was something you don't have so often in modern movies.What happened to the great writers? Only a few seem to exist.

Dom De Luise once uttered a line I use quite often:"Nice, not thrilling, but nice!" That's exactly how I feel about "Sunset Blvd.", because as much as the first 30 minutes of it were extremely promising the overly long and much less entertaining middle just slowed the pace a gear to many. I somehow hoped that Joe Gillis would get himself mixed up in a murder case or something, when in fact he wound up being a victim of one in the end. Good performance all around, although not really Oscar worthy(maybe the fact that I saw "A Man For All Seasons" just a couple of days ago speaks for itself). I truly hope it wasn't the murder plot or shall I say the final "twist" that impressed so many viewers, because as much as it is unusual (and for that time perhaps almost revolutionary) I saw it coming a mile away, which is the main reason with my disappointment with "Sunset Blvd." Once I knew exactly what was going to happen there just wasn't any fun in watching the lonesome and forgotten old silent-movie actress tormenting herself and others anymore. I can't figure out why this movie stands so tall in the IMDb 250 greatest; a great beginning, a nice ending and some of the best narration(By William Holden) ever put onto the big screen, but the predictability of it all made "Sunset Blvd." overly long and not nearly as pleasing and good as it could have been. 7/10

After seeing Sunset Boulevard for the first time ever today, I was surprised at how good the film was. While witty, it is savage, dark and original, and is quite simply too good to be missed. The story, while stark, is brilliantly constructed, about a former movie queen haunted by memories of her past greatness, and the script is both canny and knowing, sporting great lines such as "I am big. It is the pictures that got small". Billy Wilder, director of Some Like It Hot and Witness for the Prosecution, both of which are hugely enjoyable, directs briskly, and the black and white cinematography, sets and costumes are fabulous. The music score from maestro Franz Waxman is outstanding, haunting, rich yet beautiful as well. Bringing the screenplay and the story to life is the superb casting. William Holden is excellent as doomed writer Joe Gillis, who narrates in flashback from the scene of his death. Gloria Swanson though is a revelation as Norma, not only wholly convincing but also bringing a desperate and somewhat vampiric glamour to the role. Overall, Sunset Boulevard is a wonderful film, wholly deserving of its masterpiece status. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Every time I go to L.A., which isn't too often, I look at these palm-bemused, once smart stucco facades, and wonder if a Norma Desmond from a later era might be hiding from the world inside them, buttressed by cable TV (AMC or TCM, no doubt), a poodle named FiFi or Sir Francis, walk-in closets full of leopard-print Capri pants that haven't fit in decades, and a world class liquor cabinet that has seen heads of state under the table on a good night. It is because of Sunset Blvd., for certain, that my mind could ever go there. It is one of the most indelible films you will ever see. This film is great for many reasons, not the least of which is because it is Hollywood's first look back at itself. In the milieu of this film, the silent era is only 22 years behind us. The people left behind by the rush to sound can still palpably TASTE the fame, the accolade, that particular past being not so very dim and distant. The sadness of their lives was real, and at that point in history, all around, if hidden. Way more has been made of the supposed "savagery" of this film vis a vis the faded star than I think exists now, or ever did. The often cynical Wilder is deeply in touch with the tragic here, as much as the grotesque.

Although this movie was made 8 years before I was, I saw it for the first time yesterday and I was blown away! I have spent my life missing what has just become one of my favorite movies of all time. The acting was superb, the storyline riveting and the characters were people you could care about. Max was my personal favorite. There was a quiet, tragic dignity to him. I expected something to be revealed about him but was not prepared for the truth. I've always liked William Holden but my experience with Gloria Swanson was limited to her brief role in "Airport 75". I will now look for more movies by her. What an expressive face. It was fun to try to recognize some of the old time actors that were portraying themselves. An all around excellent movie. One I truly regret having waited this long to see. But it is definitely a case of better late than never.

This is such a great film on so many levels I can't really settle on where to begin. It is so beautifully shot (in that stark black/white that only nitrate negative could achieve), has a witty, clever and extremely well-written script, features some of the best acting in film's history, acrobatically balances the main plot/subplots with expert precision, contains some of the best characters on celluloid, has many true-to-life parallels (Swanson's career/real life cameos/DeMille's involvement/etc) and is peppered with such great dialogue/narration that today's film writers should take note. If that weren't enough, there's even a cameo by silent film great Buster Keaton (among others). One of the most appealing aspects of this film is how, in the story, an aging, forgotten star is trying to recapture a bygone era (the silent film era). What's interesting is that now, so many years later, we're looking back at her looking back. To present day viewers, Gloria Swanson of the 1950's is a long forgotten lost gem and to experience her own longing for the 1920's is especially captivating (and a little chilling, I might add). I don't think this film could have had that same effect when it debuted and maybe this added dimension holds so much more appeal for today's audiences. We all know that nothing lasts forever, but we don't often consider the abandoned participants; much like the veterans of a past war. In response to the famous Swanson line (while watching one of her silent films): "...we didn't need dialogue; we had faces", I'd like to also add that they "didn't need movies; they had films." They truly don't make them like this anymore. 10/10

"Sunset Boulevard," Billy Wilder's barbed take on the Hollywood studio system during its heyday is by turns volatile, funny, suspenseful, and--at its core--more than a little creepy. By today's standards, this 1950 film still takes some relevant shots at an industry that seldom acknowledges its superficiality, but is also just as dated in other regards. Wilder takes a truly original concept, bending Film Noir, satire, comedy, and pathos in the telling of Joe Gillis (William Holden), a down-on-his-luck screenwriter (the repo men are threatening to take his car, for Pete's sake!), who winds up all but imprisoned in the lonely, secluded mansion of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a washed-up silent-film starlet harboring delusions of a comeback. When drafted to revise Desmond's self-scripted version of "Salome," Joe becomes very aware of his unhinged provider, and quickly begins a collaboration with the young, rhinoplasty-friendly Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson). While Holden and Olson are--in the midst of this send-up--fresh-faced stars, "Sunset Boulevard"'s axis of madness hinges squarely on Swanson's full-bore performance, a blend of incestuous sexuality and mid-life crisis (she makes Baby Jane seem warm and cuddly by comparison) that makes her advances on Holden genuinely unappealing. The performance is a bit more tricky than one might give credit--as a woman whose fame has declined, her sustained hunger for it fuels her delusion, therefore rendering Norma Desmond an actress who literally acts out her everyday reality, to the point where any semblance of humanity is absent (her actions and words possess the overt dramatics of a woman seeking the Best Actress Oscar). While the film is beautifully photographed and performed, the sheer ambition of the project is something of a flaw--with so many genres represented, "Sunset Boulevard" is problematic in synthesizing a coherent vision. But what is here is quite influential, and certainly worth a look.

Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett were about the best writing team in Hollywood for more than three decades. "Sunset Boulevard" shows the men at the pinnacle of their profession. Billy Wilder directed the film with his usual panache at this nostalgic look at a Hollywood that had faded almost a quarter of a century before. If you haven't seen the film, please stop reading here. With the advent of the "talkies" a lot of film stars of the silent era lost their privileged positions as the most admired people in movies. When the new generation appeared in the scene, they were more accessible to the fans that flocked to see the new technique in the movies that came out. One of those movies stars, Norma Desmond, lives in the past as she never adapted to the new reality, which is evident in the way she stays out of the scene dwelling in her antiquated castle on Sunset Boulevard. Enter Joe Gillis, the man who never made it into the industry. As a writer, all his screen plays were rejected by the studio machinery because they were not what the heads of the production departments wanted to produce, or just were plain, not interested. Joe Gillis comes into the Desmond mansion by accident and it's an accident he encounters on his way out of it! Tbe egotistical Norma Desmond lives in the her palatial home with Max Von Mayerberg, the loyal servant, who was himself, somebody in the silent era. Norma falls for the young Gillis in ways she never expected, but as a desperate woman she wants to possess what she can't otherwise buy, even a man going through financial bad times the way Joe Gillis is. Billy Wilder got magnificent performances out of the three principals. William Holden had one of the best opportunities of his film career with Joe Gillis, a character he wasn't even scheduled to play, but which Montgomery Cliff handed to him in a silver platter when he refused to appear in the picture! Gloria Swanson, having experienced that old Hollywood, was a natural choice to play Norma, which was perhaps, the crowning role in her distinguished career. Erich Von Stroheim, the great director, himself, is absolutely wonderful as Von Mayerling. We see some of the silent era stars such as Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper, Anne C. Nilsson, H.B. Warner, as well as Cecil B. DeMille, the director of Hollywood epics par excellence. The great musical score of Franz Waxman enhances the film. John Seitz black and white photography brings us back to that time. Ultimately, it's the genius of Billy Wilder that keeps things in balance showing a man who understood movies as perhaps the only one that could have directed the classic "Sunset Boulevard".

Gloria Swanson must be commended for her bravery in taking a part which may or may not have echoed her own Hollywood career. William Holden took a role which required him to be a kept boy; and he's not the nicest guy in the world either. If this had been made with Mae West and Montgomery Clift, I would probably not be writing this and no one else would give a damn about this movie either. Both of them got Oscar nominations and I am sorry both lost. I am also sorry that "All About Eve" won Best Picture that year. Of course "Eve" is a great movie, but its not this. This movie is part of our collective memory and most of the dialogue continues to be quoted even today. Thank God for whatever it was that brought Billy Wilder to Hollywood. I can't think of anyone who did such a wide variety of movies so well. And please, no remakes.