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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Tired Old Queen at the Movies: Sunset Boulevard



Steve Hayes reviews the spellbinding film-noir classic:
Billy Wilder takes a sardonic look at Hollywood's past in the classic SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950). The film stars William Holden, Nancy Olsen, Erich Von Stroheim, and, in the greatest comeback in motion picture history, Gloria Swanson as silent screen star Norma Desmond. Based on an Oscar-winning original screenplay by Wilder and writing partner Charles Bracket, it tells the story of a down-and-out Hollywood screenwriter taken in by a faded silent star. Eventually, he finds himself trapped in her web of memories, money, sex, and disillusionment. It's a gritty look at the motion picture industry that's as true today as the when it was made. A business that takes talented people, builds them up, puts them on pedestals, then tosses them aside and forgets them once their talent and box office appeal have been used up. SUNSET BOULEVARD is fascinating, frustrating, funny, and fragile. It's not a pretty picture, but just try and look away.




Catch more fabulous movie reviews at Steve's YouTube channel.

4 comments:

Stan said...

I love that movie.

Russ Manley said...

Yeah, it's a great show.

Davis said...

"I am big, it's the pictures that got small…"

Russ Manley said...

Yup. "We had faces then."

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