Sunset Blvd. (1950)

A screenwriter is hired to rework a faded silent film star's script, only to find himself developing a dangerous relationship.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder

Stars:

William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim

Top Rated Movies #56 | Won 3 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Holden	...	Joe Gillis
Gloria Swanson	...	Norma Desmond
Erich von Stroheim	...	Max Von Mayerling
Nancy Olson	...	Betty Schaefer
Fred Clark	...	Sheldrake
Lloyd Gough	...	Morino
Jack Webb	...	Artie Green
Franklyn Farnum	...	Undertaker
Larry J. Blake	...	1st Finance Man (as Larry Blake)
Charles Dayton	...	2nd Finance Man
Cecil B. DeMille	...	Cecil B. DeMille
Hedda Hopper	...	Hedda Hopper
Buster Keaton	...	Buster Keaton
Anna Q. Nilsson	...	Anna Q. Nilsson
H.B. Warner	...	H. B. Warner

Storyline

In Hollywood of the 50's, the obscure screenplay writer Joe Gillis is not able to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and is thinking in returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone with her butler and driver Max Von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was her director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love for the young aspirant writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end.

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Plot Keywords:

silent film star | narrated from the grave | butler | jealousy | comeback | 

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Taglines:

This is it .. the most compelling dramatic story ever unfolded on the screen .. a tale of heartache and tragedy ..love and ambition .. told against the fabulous background of Hollywood.

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 1950 (Australia)

Also Known As:

A Can of Beans

Filming Locations:

Bel-Air Country Club - 10768 Bellagio Road, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,752,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$5,123,000, 31 December 1950

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,303,175

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 104 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of only 13 films to be nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director. For the record, the other 12 films to achieve a similar feat are Mrs. Miniver (1942), Johnny Belinda (1948), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Network (1976), Coming Home (1978), Reds (1981), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013).

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Goofs

When Norma is holding the screenplay being written by Joe and Betty, their names are joined by the word 'and'. This would mean that Joe (who is listed first) had written the entire screenplay, sold it to a studio, only to have Betty revise/rewrite the script. Since the two characters were working together, their names should have been joined with an ampersand ('&').

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Quotes

[first lines]
Joe Gillis: Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It's about 5 o'clock in the morning. That's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men.

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Crazy Credits

The Paramount logo appears as a transparency over the opening shot. The words "Sunset Blvd." are shown stenciled on the curb of that street.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood Classics with Miss Gloria Swanson (1978)

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Soundtracks

La Cumparsita
(1916) (uncredited)
Music by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez
Tango played by the band on New Year's Eve and danced by William Holden with Gloria Swanson

User Reviews

Reel Life Gothic

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.