The final scene of Sunset Boulevard (1950) after Nora Desmond has shot Joe Gillis

"The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, a struggling screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a former silent-film star who draws him into her deranged fantasy world, where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen."
While George Peppard was cast for the role of solicited “boyfriend” in Breakfast at Tiffany's, William Holden, a major award-winning star was cast as the “writer” (who can’t actually write and the female is the actual writer) in Paris When It Sizzles. This casting of Holden brings in the dark humor of one of the most formidable movies of Old Hollywood: Sunset Boulevard starring Gloria Swanson with William Holden as the “screenwriter.” In it Swanson is the fame-obsessed Norma Desmond who is deranged enough to force a screenwriter to rewrite her content for her unsought-after come-back and force him into a physical relationship which is gruesomely paralleled with and foreshadowed by her former pet monkey, and the “director/now servant” who keeps the illusions in place for her so that she can feel special and wanted. She lives for the cameras. In 1950, the film was already an exposure of the manipulations of fame.

[@GilbertHorn1]

Such a great movie with one of the greatest closing lines ever.

[@richardpodnar5039]

I sat in a theatre watching this during a revival decades ago. From the moment when Gillis is shot until the "closeup," you could have heard a pin drop; the hundreds of attendees were absolutely silent, not even laughing at Hedda Hopper berating the intrusion of the police on the phone. Powerful filmmaking, and definitely best watched on the big screen.😊❤

[@danawinsor1380]

In addition, there's that moment when you see Hedda Hopper in tears watching from the balcony. Little touches like that are why this is a such a great film, IMO.

[@kenlau457]

The scene where Swanson descended the stairs, she insisted on walking it down without looking at the steps but was told she could only do it if there were people stationed down its length to catch her in case she fell. Thus explained why she was barefoot , so she could feel the steps and why so many reporters and cops lined its length, all looking at her like hawks, and why the female reporter is stationed at the bottom.

[@giovanniserafino1731]

This is absolutely correct! The studio, for reasons of legal liability, would not allow Swanson to do the scene without the added safety factor of people lining both sides of the stairwell in case she tripped or missed a step. Although agile and in good health, Swanson was in her 50s when she made Sunset Boulevard.

[@Kw1161]

Thanks it has been several years since I’ve seen this movie, and Zi believe Gloria Swanson should have won an Oscar for her portrayal. The “Norma Desmond” skits on “The Carol Burnett Show” still brings back fond memories of this movie…😊! Have a great day!

[@FLENIF2247A]

Tough year. All about Eve was that year too!

[@MaskedMan66]

Nora Desmond.

[@Schmoityface]

I think she was beat out by Judy Holliday, who won the Oscar for Born Yesterday.

[@FLENIF2247A]

@@Schmoityface Who?????

[@Jack-ke5uv]

The ending was a little over the top and a tad unrealistic but it sure was campy and entertaining.

[@dennismullen9700]

I cannot even imagine how they could justify not giving her the Oscar?

[@Darrigrande]

Gloria Swanson gave a performance that came in the history of the cinema. Brilliant!

[@mestreinsolito]

still one of the greatest movies ever made after all these 74 years

[@JohnBicknell]

The stone faced stoical face of Max starts to betray tearful emotion, just for an instance. Genius!

[@josephvitielo1693]

Miklos Rozsa great score

[@danawinsor1380]

He was great. I don't think I've seen von Stroheim in anything else.

[@swengeer]

Acting!

[@iluvpepi]

@@josephvitielo1693: Wikipedia says it’s Franz Waxman.

[@rickw1100]

An incredibly executed film: the story, the music, the production values and cast especially Swanson and Holden. One of the truly great American films.

[@donnarichardson7214]

Spookier than any horror movie. That Art Nouveau staircase helps.

[@12classics39]

The music as she descends the stairs is absolutely amazing.

[@danawinsor1380]

I know what you mean. I was thinking it was a kind of "twisted tango."

[@Bacalao2929]

Greatest movie ever

[@davidbroughall3782]

Two great films (this and All About Eve), and three great actresses, Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, and Anne Baxter. It's a pity only one of them could win the Oscar. I still think it should have been Gloria Swanson. She was brilliantly demented as Norma Desmond.

[@jeffandersen7397]

All About Eve is brilliant, need to re-watch that soon

[@davidbroughall3782]

@@jeffandersen7397 Agreed, although you need to know a lot of the history of live theater to get everything they're saying.

[@Jack-ke5uv]

I say she did not win because the ending was a little over the top. Neither Mary Pickford nor did Clara Bow go this ballistic in their later years of unemployment.

[@davidbroughall3782]

@@Jack-ke5uv What do you mean "over the top"? The entire movie was narrated by a dead man!

[@rjmcallister1888]

One of the great 'insider' films. Gloria Swanson was up for it; Erich von Stroheim gets to direct one more time; Hedda Hopper, Anna Q Nilsson, HB Warner and Buster Keaton were all acting contemporaries; Cecil B DeMille plays a director for once and even Jack Webb, moonlighting from "Dragnet" is in it. Evans and Livingston were great songwriters.

[@kenlau457]

Yes, but some were not pleased, telling Wilder he practically crapped on the table they ate from.

[@muslit]

The trills in the woodwinds at the end are taken from Strauss' opera 'Salome'.

[@flenif2247]

I exit the house every WORK day like this.....

[@Ursaminor31]

Yaasss kween

[@sputnikone6281]

You work? Bravo!

[@flenif2247]

@sputnikone6281 Yep! Everyone pretty much does unless they are from Gen laZeee

[@sputnikone6281]

@@flenif2247 True that!

[@margaretbuckley9309]

One of the best movies ever made i love it 👏👏👏

[@KimKinzer]

Then ending to this day still gives me the shivers.

[@danawinsor1380]

If you look carefully at 5:23 you can see that she is barefoot. There was a reason for this; I think it was easier to take those steps downstairs without falling.

[@ms.annthrope415]

For years i saw Carol Burnett spoof this movie until I finally saw it on TV. We lived at a time where most people had some cultural knowledge to understand and appreciate the references.

[@daytripperhd]

that was a great shot from the water. wow

[@danawinsor1380]

I read that they used a mirror to create the illusion of filming him from below.

[@daytripperhd]

@@danawinsor1380 It did have a strange look to it. I bet your right.

[@sexobscura]

*It wasn't really so much as great as it was good and clever*

[@12classics39]

It’s incredible how the film’s narration turns out to be Joe Gillis speaking to us from the afterlife.

[@angelcitygirl]

An absolute TRAVESTY that Gloria did not win the Oscar. Runner up should have been Bette in All About Eve but few even remember Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday. But Gloria? This film is studied in film school and still holds up today.

[@ScottHughes-n4u]

You are absolutely right. I could not agree with you more. Gloria was brilliant. She was Norma Desmond. One of the very best screen performance ever. Gloria was robbed!

[@Firebrand55]

Norma:..."I am big!..it's the pictures that got small..."

[@Twister-c5j9m]

I never understood that or what she meant by that

[@michaeljarosz4062]

Television

[@Twister-c5j9m]

@@michaeljarosz4062 Oh, lol. Thanks. I get it now. Lol

[@zerdda]

My favorite film. So powerful.

[@Katnip452]

Just visited Sunset Boulevard the place last week and thought of this film. I’m not an actor, no connection to Hollywood except a few friends who live there. A street like any other. Emotions surge in response to this film, all the same. Beautiful, frightening.

[@americanitalianisrael4008]

EXQUISITE. STUNNING. SUPERB ACTRESS MRS GLORIA SWANSON WAS. YOU GET GOOSEBUMPS WATCHING THIS SCENE. EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT. THE MUSIC. THE FILMING. THE ACTING.THE WHOLE MOVIE WAS SUPERB.

[@oriethompson]

A masterpiece!! 🌠🌠

[@felix.carbonel.3799]

Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis should have won academy awards for best actress for 1950 that year for their respective films Sunset Boulevard and All about Eve. It should have been a tie.

[@steve3131]

When there was a tie between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis said if someone gave her "half an Oscar" she'd "throw it back in their faces"

[@backtomonobacktomono3490]

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up, too.

[@danawinsor1380]

Me too.

[@HajimeIshii-dn6mz]

Gloria Swanson played the role of an obsolete actress. In real life, however, she was far from obsolete or forgotten. I wonder how she reacted to her role and the plot of “Sunset Boulevard”.

[@tommylundholm9146]

One of cinemas most iconic scenes up with my personal favorite Garbos ending scene as Queen Kristina

[@enricotolentino2537]

Pure genius😊

[@MaskedMan66]

NORMA Desmond. Nora Desmond is the spoof version played by Carol Burnett.

[@wmbrown6]

Ms. Swanson was a fan of the "Nora Desmond" sketches, and even guested on the Burnett show in 1973. Ironically, she never appeared in a "Nora Desmond" sketch, though, as a character atypical thereof.

[@ransomcoates546]

The prolonged trill in the orchestra is straight from Richard Strauss’ ‘Salome’, before the head of John the Baptist is brought up from the cistern.

[@johcafra]

We might get a glimpse as to how Erich von Stroheim actually directed on-set. But relish this glimpse of five ageless talents at work...Billy Wilder and Franz Waxman included. (Indeed, she truly is Hedda Hopper.)

[@RickMileske]

It's my honest opinion that Gloria Swanson was robbed of winning the Oscar for role of Norma Desmond!!!!!

[@GeorgeKenmore]

I live in hope that some day the files will be opened that show vote tallies. I would love to know how Swanson (or even Davis) lost to Holliday, and Garland to Kelly for that matter. Throw in Crash over Brokeback Mountain and my curiosity would be satisfied. This is such a monumental performance that remains beloved by film-goers, that may be camp but nonetheless one of the best performances not to have won an Oscar.

[@therealpinoyhapa]

Billy Wilder: "She just went a little meshuggah."

[@Ursaminor31]

The barefoot actually adds to the insanity

[@simonf8902]

I am ready for my close-up Mr De Mille.

[@mercedesscrivens742]

Fantástica película,y Gloria Swanson merecía un Oscar,que injusticia

[@uslines]

Bill Holden also great. Miss the closing credit music track of Paramount newreels.

[@christopherbarnard608]

The film is a masterpiece

[@michaeljoesmith3977]

Montgomery Clift turned down the William Holden part because he didn't want to be seen in a romantic scene with an older woman. I think Gloria Swanson was 50 years old.

[@carloscardenasgonzalez8848]

Gloria Swanson debio de haber ganado el Oscar. Filme genial de Billy Wilder sobre la decrepitud en Hollywwod al acabar el final el productor estaba muy enojado con Wilder, pero acaba de hacer puro Arte.

[@teateraxxontmet8839]

Yea, a lot of this movie was magic

[@indigohammer5732]

As mad as a March Hare.

[@scronx]

Hold it -- I don't remember a man running from the pool to the house?

[@fordtruxdad5155]

Wonder what happened to poor Norma? Prison? Insane asylum?

[@Julito-ty5ph]

Definitely cheated out of a well deserved Academy Award

[@Jack-ke5uv]

Ending was too over the top..overacted.

[@davidhull1481]

Isn’t it Norma? How can I trust a video who doesn’t even get the name of its main character right?

[@gterrymed]

A narrator can't narrate a story afrer he's dead my 7th Grade English teacher said in 1985; he must not have seen this . . .neither had I seen this either at the time.

[@truegrit7697]

I don't know who wroth this title, but the character's name is NORMA Desmond. 🙄

[@kateruterbories2692]

Sunset Boulevard.

[@vulcan2882]

@@kateruterbories2692 .. read the comment again, the character's name .. not the name of the movie.

[@JamesSedgwick-jp6hh]

LOL. Wasn't Nora Desmond the Carol Burnett character? LOL

[@vulcan2882]

@@JamesSedgwick-jp6hh ... yes.

[@ThisGuy65842]

​@JamesSedgwick-jp6hh 😂😂😂😂Yesssss

[@laurapuleo196]

They might take my son away from me!

[@CharlesHarrington-fg3im]

HER NAME WAS NORMA DESMOND! DUH!

[@jeffandersen7397]

the greratest "Hollywood" film

[@jaishemajames4554]

Coo coo coo coo

[@garymazzeo3490]

To think they gave Swanson's oscar to Judy Holiday for that moronic film Born Yesterday...which stunk!

[@danawinsor1380]

I honestly think you would make a good film critic.

[@Brian-uy2tj]

Just because you like one movie better than the other doesn't make the other movie a bad movie. It is the Hollywood system that you should hate. Born Yesterday was a great movie in it's own way and I enjoyed it very much. I love Sunset Blvd as well and don't really care about the awards. I don't like or dislike a movie based on awards. Many of the greatest movies are overlooked. Who cares?

[@danawinsor1380]

@@Brian-uy2tj Such is the nature of art! No two people are going to agree with everything, and no one needs their tastes to be validated. I am now going to watch "Born Yesterday." Judy Holiday was truly unique!

[@Brian-uy2tj]

@@danawinsor1380 > The scene where Judy Holiday and Broderick Crawford are playing cards is so funny. Broderick Crawford was terrific in this movie.

[@danawinsor1380]

@@Brian-uy2tj Cool. Thanks.

[@DIOSpeedDemon]

Carol Burnett with somedress she found in a window shade, is priceless.

[@wmbrown6]

That was from "Went with the Wind!"

[@marcpeterson1092]

I see the appeal, but to today's taste it is waaay overdone.

[@cousineerie9604]

for lazy people

[@lidijatravina7438]

Это насмешка над женщинами, которые не хотят быть полицейской ищейкой. Я не хочу, но и строить из себя задумчивую актрису тоже не умею

[@ged357]

NORMA not Nora !!!

[@simonf8902]

All woke Hollywood should be forced to see this movie!

[@Joe-bd4xc]

Superb film! Should have won Best Picture at the Oscars instead of the overrated All About Eve

[@garymazzeo3490]

@@12classics39 "Born Yesterday"was worse, and they gave the oscar to Judy Holiday that year!

[@Jack-ke5uv]

@@12classics39 I wasn't bored at all. Maybe there is something wrong with me.