Sunset Blvd.

Sunset Blvd.

1950

Director: Billy Wilder

Writer: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marchman Jr.

110 Minutes

A forgotten star and a hack writer is the story of Sunset Blvd. It’s simple tale with complex characters, which makes it fantastic.

How fantastic?

It’s #12 on American Film Institute’s film list. It’s #32 on Internet Movie Data Base top 250. And it won three Academy Awards, while nominated for ten including Best Picture.

But, why?

Because Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) is a train wreak. And Joe Gillis (William Holden) is not far behind her. And everyone wants to see a train wreak.

But, it’s also a Hollywood story, involving famous actors and directors playing famous actors and directors. It’s behind the scenes of one of the greatest businesses in the world, revealing how outlandish and psychotic Hollywood celebrities, past and present, truly are.

“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” Norma explains to Joe.

Norma was a famous silent star in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Joe is a struggling screenwriter in the Hollywood Age of paying your bills. Both of which need each other, but neither knows why…until the very end.

In the scene above, Norma has crossed over from reality to fantasy. She has dreamed of her return to the silver screen and even after killing Mr. Gillis, she believes Cecil B. Demillie has lights, cameras, and awaits his “action” call until Norma is ready. She creeps down the stairs and delivers the famous line:

‘I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Demillie.”

But, Demillie isn’t there. Her dream is a nightmare, but she wouldn't know. Downstairs are police, reporters, and a dozen spectators looking to catch a glimpse of how mad this business can drive a person.

She crawls her way towards the camera, acting as though nothing is wrong. But, everything is wrong. She has killed a man – a man she loved - a man so willing to trade up his life as a struggling screenwriter for being a playboy for an insane cougar who picks up the tab. When he tries to leave, she shoots him.

It’s how Hollywood is sometimes. You have to do, what you have to do. Norma and Joe knew that all too well.

Sunset Blvd. is an usual film about an usual business. Swanson and Holden do a fantastic job carrying this movie and director Erich von Stroheim, playing Max, adds color as a supporting character and Norma’s first husband turned butler.

Weird, but true.

In the end, this movie explains why People magazines are sold. It explains why televised News programs have ratings. People want to see catastrophic events, especially when it involves celebrities.

At the movies, we hope these catastrophic events have happy endings. But in reality, we only hope these events didn’t happen to us.

Perhaps, that’s why Sunset Blvd is so great: it’s about real people in a fake world.

I guess, that’s all Hollywood is anyways.