Sunday 23 October 2011

The Sunday Night Movie: SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)

Excellent film from Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot) about a struggling young screenwriter (Holden) who runs into former silent film star Norma Desmond (Swanson) who is dreaming of a comeback. She hires him to patch up her script so Cecil B. DeMille can direct her. The lady is a little around the bend, but the writer needs money so he takes the job. This is a marvelous film with great performances. And it holds up today beautifully. William Holden is great as Joe, the writer. It's one of his best parts ever. But it's Gloria Swanson who owns this picture. She is simply amazing. And the dialogue in this film is some of the best you will ever hear in a movie. Great stuff.

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

3 comments:

  1. LOVE this movie. It's about my 3rd or 4th favorite film of all-time. I think it's about the best performance of Bill Holden's career, and I tried to see for myself how he didn't win the Oscar that year. Jose Ferrer did, for Cyrano deBergerac. I will never see how he won, because I was so bored, I turned the movie off after 10 minutes.

    Gloria Swanson is totally brilliant in Sunset Blvd. That was an amazing year for actresses...ALL of them were fabulous and could have won the Oscar.

    Don't you get a kick out of the end, how she's "ready for her close-up."

    Totally wonderful movie. A must-see!! (I can't use my DVR to watch a recorded movie tonight...my son is watching the World Series. I'm thinking of streaming a Net Flix movie on my laptop...if I stop reading blogs, that is.)

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  2. LOVE this film! One of the best, in my opinion. =O)

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