A- | A fading actress clings to her stardom. Directed by Billy Wilder Starring Gloria Swanson and William Holden Initial Review by Chris Cook |
"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.” Everyone should’ve heard this line at some point by now. I was waiting for it the entire film; it was the final line of dialogue.
Ranked number 12 on the American Film Institute’s list 0f 100 best American films in 1998, and coming in at 16th on the 2008 list, Sunset Boulevard continues to stand up as a cinematic classic.
The film opens up with a dead body floating face down in a swimming pool. This was recently given a nod in the first episode of season seven of Archer.
The film is narrated by Joe Gillis (William Holden), a struggling screenwriter whose ideas get rejected and his car is threatened by repossession. While running from the repo men, he stumbles upon a run-down mansion, the home of washed-up actress Norma Desmond, played brilliantly by Gloria Swanson. Once learning that he’s a writer, she coerces Joe to move into her home and assist with fixing her intended comeback film script (think Stephen King’s Misery without the hacking off of limbs with an axe).
Ranked number 12 on the American Film Institute’s list 0f 100 best American films in 1998, and coming in at 16th on the 2008 list, Sunset Boulevard continues to stand up as a cinematic classic.
The film opens up with a dead body floating face down in a swimming pool. This was recently given a nod in the first episode of season seven of Archer.
The film is narrated by Joe Gillis (William Holden), a struggling screenwriter whose ideas get rejected and his car is threatened by repossession. While running from the repo men, he stumbles upon a run-down mansion, the home of washed-up actress Norma Desmond, played brilliantly by Gloria Swanson. Once learning that he’s a writer, she coerces Joe to move into her home and assist with fixing her intended comeback film script (think Stephen King’s Misery without the hacking off of limbs with an axe).
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