Sunset Blvd. (1950) 8.5
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity. Director:Billy Wilder |
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Sunset Blvd. (1950) 8.5
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity. Director:Billy Wilder |
|
Watch Trailer 0Share... |
Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
William Holden | ... | ||
Gloria Swanson | ... | ||
Erich von Stroheim | ... | ||
Nancy Olson | ... | ||
Fred Clark | ... | ||
Lloyd Gough | ... | ||
Jack Webb | ... | ||
Franklyn Farnum | ... | ||
Larry J. Blake | ... |
1st Finance Man
(as Larry Blake)
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Charles Dayton | ... |
2nd Finance Man
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Cecil B. DeMille | ... |
Cecil B. DeMille
(as Cecil B. De Mille)
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Hedda Hopper | ... | ||
Buster Keaton | ... | ||
Anna Q. Nilsson | ... |
Anna Q. Nilsson
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H.B. Warner | ... |
H. B. Warner
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The story, set in '50s Hollywood, focuses on Norma Desmond, a silent-screen goddess whose pathetic belief in her own indestructibility has turned her into a demented recluse. The crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion where she lives with only her butler, Max who was once her director and husband has become her self-contained world. Norma dreams of a comeback to pictures and she begins a relationship with Joe Gillis, a small-time writer who becomes her lover, that will soon end with murder and total madness. Written by alfiehitchie
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.