starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
directed by Billy Wilder
110 minutes
Unemployed screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden), is on the run from repo men who are trying to grab his car when he hides out in what he thinks is an abandoned mansion but turns out to the home of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) former star of silent films. She shows no interest in him until he mentions his profession. She quickly engages him to help her edit a screenplay she has written. She envisions that it will be her next movie.
Joe takes the job because he is down on his luck and desperately in need of money. Norma starts to buy Joe things like clothes and jewelry. She gives him a room in her mansion. She becomes very possessive of Joe and starts to talk as if they are a couple. Joe can see what's going on but he decides to overlook the oddity of his current situation. He does so in part because he has been warned by Max, Norma's only servant, her butler, that she is suicidal.
Joe strikes up a friendship with Betty (Nancy Olson), who works as a reader at Paramount and is engaged to Artie, a friend of his. Betty convinces Joe that there is something to one of his scripts that was previously rejected by Paramount. They start to work on the script. Their closeness creates problems for both of them. They start to develop feelings for one another. Norma becomes aware of Betty and gets very jealous.
Joe lays his cards on the table near the end of the movie. He lets Betty know about Norma and then packs his bags as he prepares to leave Norma but she won't have it.
Thoughts
There is more to the story that I have not described in my synopsis including how the movie begins and a trip that Norma, Joe, and Max make to Paramount in the second half of the movie.
Sunset Blvd was nominated for 11 Academy Awards. William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, and Nancy Olson (who played the part of Betty) were all nominated for awards in acting categories but none of them won. The movie was also nominated for Best Motion Picture but it did not win. That award went to All About Eve (1950). Director Billy Wilder was nominated for Best Director but did not win. The film did win the Academy Awards for Best Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction - Black-and-White, and Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
William Holden and Nancy Olson also starred in Union Station (1950), which I saw at the 2024 edition of the Noir City DC Film Festival. I enjoyed that film but would not put it on a par with Sunset Blvd.
This was my second time watching Sunset Blvd. It has been a little over 17 years since I last watched it. I was shocked by the ending the first time around. I kept thinking that Norma was putting on an act. In a sense she was but she really believed in the act. She never let up. I remembered most of the movie as I watched it for the second time. I was much more shocked by the ending the first time around but it still hit me hard on this viewing, but in a different sort of way.
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