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Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 70 Reviews)

Truly, A Perfect Film
Sunset Boulevard is directed by legendary director Billy Wilder, who also directed Some Like it Hot and The Apartment; The film is featured in Roger Ebert's "The Great Movies" and is #12 on The American Film Institute's Top 100. It's an important film, that skates dangerously close to the real lives of the actors portraying some of the characters, but it's also one of the most well-acted and entertaining films on that list. The movie stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter living in Los Angeles. In one of the best opening shots in film history, Joe narrates as we follow a number of policemen who head to a mansion where a man floats in the pool dead; We learn the man has suffered some gunshot wounds. We don't clearly see the man's face, but we have an idea who it is. The film flashes back and we meet Joe as two repo men come to take his car. He's parked his car across the street, so he gets into it and heads to Paramount. His script has been turned down and his luck gets worse when the repo men spot him as he leaves. After his tire blows out, Joe pulls into the garage of what appears to be a deserted mansion on Sunset Boulevard. What he discovers is that the mansion is not deserted at all. Occupying it is an aging silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) and her butler Max Von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim). Norma is the stereotypical once famous actress. Her grotesque and semi-dilapitated mansion features a shrine of herself and she frequently sits down to watch old movies, starring herself. Joe realizes that Norma is a little bit off, but is sucked into her world. Norma is writing a script and she wants Joe's help; In return, she gives Joe money and a place to live. While the story between Joe and Norma is a love story, the love story part of the movie belongs to Joe and Betty (Nancy Olson), a Paramount writer. Joe begins sneaking out of Norma's house at night to co-write a script with Betty, who eventually falls for him. As I said earlier, the film cuts close to the actor's real lives. Most notably in the case of Swanson and von Stroheim. Swanson was, like Desmond, a silent-film star hoping for a comeback. With this film, she not only achieved that but gave one of the best performances in film history. von Stroheim was, as his character is in the film, a former silent-film director who showed a lot of promise. The film even uses real people playing dramatized versions of themselves, such as Cecile B. Demille. Most people, if they've heard of the film, have heard of it because of it's famous quotes. Wilder's films have dialogue that leaves a mark on you and this film is only a notch below Some Like it Hot on the best curtain lines.
Swanson goes completely over-the-top in her performance, you could define it as campy almost...It works though and it suits her well in the end. The film isn't really meant to be a character study, but more of a look at the darker underbelly of Hollywood. The final line, in itself, is not creepy...The way Swanson delivers it, the look in her eye, is. The film has great cinematography, a great cast and amazing performances, a solid script, and great dialogue. Dare I say it? It may just be a perfect film.

GRADE: A

"Back at that pool again. The one I always wanted"
I watched "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) for the first time a few days ago, after a friend lent it to me. I am very grateful to him because otherwise I probably wouldn't have rented it, or at least not anytime soon. And truth to be told, this is the kind of movie that you simply should watch as soon as possible. From my point of view, "Sunset Boulevard" is, like "Casablanca" and "The Maltese falcon", a classic.

This film is directed by Billy Wilder, and narrated by a dead man that appears in one of the first scenes floating in a swimming pool. It sounds strange, doesn't it? Despite that, it is very effective! The opening sequence is strong, but things get better and better as the story goes on. Despite that, a word of caution is in order: if you don't like black humour, don't watch "Sunset Boulevard", because this satire of the perverse side of Hollywood has it in spades.

One of the main characters is Joe Gillis (William Holden), a screenwriter without money that happens to hide from his creditors in an old mansion that seems to be empty. That is unfortunately not the case... The mansion is no less than the home of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a rich woman that used to be a silent screen star, and that wants to be famous again. That appears to be the reason why she employs Joe to improve a very long script she has written for her comeback, and also the reason why she insists that Joe is to stay at her house in the meantime. Joe isn't fond of the idea of staying in the mansion with the old woman and her creepy butler, Max (Erich von Stroheim), but he has no money, so he has to accept. Joe Gillis is like a fly caught in a spider's web: from the moment he enters Norma's house he is doomed, he just doesn't know it yet.

What will happen? Well, you must watch this film to learn that. I can only promise you that "Sunset Boulevard" is the kind of movie you don't regret watching. It is entertaining, insightful, has great performances and includes some of the best lines I have heard in a movie. Again, a classic. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Belen Alcat

PS: If possible, remember to watch the extra features after seeing this film. One of them, a commentary by Ed Sikov, is specially good, due to the fact that it allows you to learn several interesting facts about the cast and the making of this movie.

PS 2: I wil include here some of my favourite quotes from this movie. I'm sure they will make you want to watch it :)

-Joe Gillis: "You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big".
Norma Desmond: "I am big. It's the pictures that got small".

- [Joe is reading Norma's script] Joe Gillis: "Sometimes it's interesting to see just how bad bad writing can be. This promised to go the limit".

- Norma Desmond: "We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!"

- Joe Gillis: "There's nothing tragic about being fifty. Not unless you're trying to be twenty-five".

- Norma Desmond: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up".

Pathetic
Can't remember when I've seen a film with more depraved and pathetic characters than this. A has-been silent screen star who lives in a sinister dark house surrounded by a gzillion of her own photos and a weirdo butler essentially kidnap a holiday screen writer, down on his luck. The writer wanders onto what appears to be deserted property, and hides his car trying to escape a Finance Co. The threesome make the creepiest trio you could ever imagine. In one early scene they have a funeral, casket and all, for a monkey. Yuk.

Gloria Swanson was directed to play a woman who still thinks she can make a come back by writing her own script, though she despises movies that "talk". She waves her hands about, and makes strange corny expressions with her face in every scene. She falls for the screen writer, William Holden, and won't let him out of her sight. The film was made in 1950, and Swanson is supposed to be playing a woman of only 50, not exacty over the hill (if we look at many of today's movie stars.) But she's treated in the film as though she much, much older. I thought she was supposed to be about 75 or so, but her age is mentioned towards the end of the film. My heavens, at 50 she could still be in movies, and from the amount of money she apparently had, didn't need to be living in such a dark, creepy house. Film didn't make sense.

Sorry I bought it. It was ridiculous.

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