good back-story, and good acting

Excellent, a Must See

An Exercise In Nonsense

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Where to start? The genius of Billy Wilder as a director is well know. All his films are masterful in direction. To me that means not a shot out of place. From the beginning, Holden dead in the pool, shot from the bottom of the pool and narrated by the dead man was ground breaking and genius. The casting of Von Stroheim, Swanson, Webb, and of course Holden is perfect. The cameo with DeMille incredible. Maybe its because I am a filmmaker myself that I get so much joy out of this film. I don't watch many films more than once but I just saw this again and couldn't pull myself away. The dialogue, cinematography, editing, sound and music are exacting, as a great film should be. I lived on Ivar in the 1970's I realize it was one block away from Holden's apartment. There is so much truth in this movie about the film industry and about life.

A screenwriter is hired to rework a faded silent film star's script, only to find himself developing a dangerous relationship. Sunset Blvd. doesn't hold up as many other "classics" from the 30's 40's and 50's and i'm afraid is a film that won't satisfy lots of viewers and makes perfect sense since it doesn't do that good of a job giving us something good or an obession driven and well written film which it clearly wasn't and as for the stars or the movie itself it just wasn't good and i found it to be quite the boredom as well despite what it's written here.. (0/10)

Accused by LB Mayer of biting the hand that fed him Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is one dark, suspenseful but highly entertaining work of art. Arguably his finest script Sunset also gets career highs from pantheon cinematographer Joseph Seitz and composer Franz Waxman whose score not content to just provide background intricately attaches itself to the action, accenting one powerful scene after the next.Aspiring screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) is trying to stay one step ahead of the finance company out to repossess his car when takes shelter in an old movie star's run down mansion. Mistaken for an undertaker there to wake her dead monkey he's persuaded to stay in a room over the garage but the washed up silent star Norma Desmond has other designs for him. He chafes at the gigolo role but finds the lavish lifestyle hard to reject. When he connects with another writer as collaborator and romantic interest he decides to make a final break from the unstable Desmond.Holden's sardonic narration and Gloria Swanson's delusional Norma deliver Wilder and Leigh Bracket's biting script with emphasis in every word as morbid humor mixes with tragedy within the suffocating stage of the oppressive mansion along with the dour butler (perfectly played by Erich Von Stroheim) and the few visitors, actual former silent stars playing themselves, referred to by Gillis as "the waxworks."Also playing themselves are a sensitive but forceful Cecil B. DeMille and a shrewish Hedda Hopper as well as the Paramount Studio itself. There is also a fine supporting performance by Nancy Olsen as the late love interest but nothing surpasses the strident performance of Swanson that some may argue is over the top in spots while at the same time demanding it to be effective. Sunset Boulevard is an expressionistic masterpiece by one of Hollywood's best displaying it at its worst. Superb celluloid theatre.

This film encompasses the Noir style of filmmaking, the dark tones of the movie with the flashbacks and underlying mystery of it all just draws the viewer in. i would definitely recommend this movie to some one who is a fan of Noir style films and has not yet seen this one. the way that this film depicts the industry and how actors and actresses are portrayed in this film are years and years ahead of their time.