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Sunset Boulevard (1950); AFI #16

The next film on our AFI list is the film noir drama Sunset Blvd. (1950). This movie was directed and part written by Billie Wilder. It was nominated for all of the acting categories, best director, and best picture...but won none of them. The movie was up for 11 Oscars but only received technical awards because of the very stiff competition that year from the likes of All About Eve, The Third Man, and Harvey. This film is often called the best movie about Hollywood ever written because it bravely looks at the life of a star and how they can be chewed up and spit out of the system when they get too old. This is not an aspect of movie stardom that Hollywood generally likes to advertise, so it is not surprising that this film was not as recognized. I would like to go over the plot before further discussion, so...

YOU KNOW THE DRILL! PREPARE FOR SPOILERS! THIS IS A MYSTERY SO DON’T READ FURTHER UNTIL YOU SEE THE FILM!

At a mansion on Sunset Boulevard, the body of Joe Gillis (William Holden) floats in the swimming pool. Long before it was done in American Beauty, the movie is narrated through a post mortem flashback of the main character.

Six months earlier, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe tries selling a story to Paramount Pictures. Producer Sheldrake (Fred Clarke) is somewhat interested but looks to the advice of a script reader that walks in on the conversation. The woman who comes in is Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) and she harshly critiques the script, unaware that Joe is the writer. There is some awkward banter and Joe leaves in a huff. He is driving home and sees some repossession men seeking his car, so he flees only to barely escape by turning into the driveway of a seemingly deserted mansion. After concealing the car, he hears a woman inside call to him, mistaking him for someone else. Ushered in by Max the butler (Erich von Stroheim) , Joe recognizes the woman as long-forgotten silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). She seems to believe that Joe is bringing a coffin for her dead monkey (that is not a typo), but becomes interested when she learns that Joe is a writer. Norma asks his opinion of a script she has written for a film about Salome, which she plans to play the role herself in a return to the screen. Joe finds her script abysmal, but flatters her into hiring him as a script doctor for enough money to buy back his car.

Norma insists that Joe move in and she has Max secretly get all of Joe’s things and move him in. Joe resents this but gradually accepts his situation as her boy toy because Norma is psychologically fragile. He sees that Norma refuses to face the fact that her fame has evaporated and learns that the fan letters she still receives are secretly written by Max, who explains that he has had to hide all of the knives and remove all locks on the doors as Norma has attempted suicide. Norma lavishes attention on Joe and buys him expensive clothes. At her New Year's Eve party, he discovers that he is the only guest and realizes she has fallen in love with him. Joe tries to let her down gently, but Norma slaps him and retreats to her room. Joe visits his friend Artie Green to ask about staying at his place. At Artie's party he again meets Betty, whom he learns is Artie's girl. Betty thinks a scene in one of Joe's scripts has potential, but Joe is uninterested. When he phones Max to have him pack his things, Max tells him Norma cut her wrists with his razor.

Norma has Max deliver the edited Salome script to her former director Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. She starts getting calls from Paramount executive Gordon Cole, but petulantly refuses to speak to anyone except DeMille. Eventually, she has Max drive her and Joe to Paramount in her 1929 Isotta Fraschini. The older studio employees recognize her and warmly greet her. DeMille receives her affectionately and treats her with great respect, tactfully evading her questions about her script. Meanwhile, Max learns that Cole merely wants to rent her unusual car for a film.

Preparing for her imagined comeback, Norma undergoes rigorous beauty treatments. Joe secretly works nights at Betty's Paramount office, collaborating on an original screenplay. His moonlighting is found out by Max, who reveals that he was a respected film director, discovered Norma as a teenage girl, made her a star and was her first husband. After she divorced him, he found life without her unbearable and abandoned his career to become her servant. Meanwhile, despite Betty's engagement to Artie, she and Joe fall in love. After Norma discovers a manuscript with Joe's and Betty's names on it, she phones Betty and insinuates what sort of man Joe really is. Joe, overhearing, invites Betty to come see for herself. When she arrives, he pretends he is satisfied being a gigolo, but after she tearfully leaves he packs for a return to his old Ohio newspaper job. He bluntly informs Norma there will be no comeback, her fan mail comes from Max, and she has been forgotten. He disregards Norma's threat to kill herself and the gun she shows him to back it up. As Joe walks out of the house, Norma shoots him three times and he falls into the pool.

The flashback ends. The house is filled with police and reporters. Norma, having lost touch with reality, believes the newsreel cameras are there to film Salome. Max and the police play along. Max sets up a scene for her and calls, "Action!" As the cameras roll, Norma dramatically descends her grand staircase. She pauses and makes an impromptu speech about how happy she is to be making a film again, ending with, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." as she makes a series of exaggerated swooping steps towards the camera, an equally exaggerated 'come-hither' expression upon her face.

Gloria Swanson was in fact a silent film star that was having difficulty finding work. She was very well aware that the part was poking fun at people like herself and old Hollywood in general. She had worked with Cecil B. DeMille and he was happy to be part of the production for the right price. He was paid $20,000 for his cameo, which says that even he was glad to get work but still expected full price for his participation.

As mentioned in the recap, the idea of the post mortem narrator was taken full on by American Beauty. Arguably, so was the idea of somebody dealing with their growing irrelevance as they age. But it is fantastic that the movie can reveal the end result in the opening scene and yet there is still tension and it can act as a whodunnit. It becomes a question of who is going to kill Joe. The jealous butler/director/ex-husband? The crazy out of touch actress? The confused new girl? Artie the spurned fiancée? The repo men? Or maybe a distraught Joe takes his own life? As mentioned it was Norma, but I legitimately did not know the first time I watched the film and it was great.

Some more recent critics have not been kind to the acting of Gloria Swanson because she overacts to the point of camp. Yet that is exactly what you would expect from an emotionally fragile, silent film era actress that was once the biggest star and had lost her fame. She is a total drama queen and that is appropriately so. The reason that it works is that people point it out and she seems weird next to the other actors. She is like the character of Ms. Havisham in Great Expectations, but instead of tempting Pip with the love of Estella, she tries to do it herself. One part hilarious, but three parts absolutely fascinating.

There is quite a bit of dark humor in this movie and much of it is through the campy acting of Swanson. I am glad to say that she owns it and doesn’t back away at all. There is a scene where she puts on a Charlie Chaplin outfit and attempts to entertain Joe. Also, the entertainment of the evening was watching her old silent movies and she reacts emotionally to her own portrayals. It is fantastic. I think my favorite part is that she thinks that Cecil B. DeMille is trying to get her back for a part and it turns out that an AP simply wants to use her car.

So should this movie be on the AFI list? Without a doubt. It is brilliant mystery that takes a deep look at the downside of stardom. It was so accurate and appealing that the Academy had to take note despite likely not wanting to. It was one of the first movies to examine the fragility of an actor’s ego. It also has some of the very best single lines in cinema history. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. It might not interest younger viewers and the strange gigolo implications might not be appreciated by all, but it is a pretty fun (and funny) movie that find enjoyable every time. Well worth a watch.

Side Note: There is a monkey burial scene when Joe first arrives and it might one of the strangest and funniest scenes in cinema. I just wonder...why did she have a monkey and how long did she keep the dead body before the burial? Yet another reason to check out the movie.