Amazon.com Essentials:
Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in
Hollywood remains as pungent as ever in its power to provoke shock,
laughter, and gasps of astonishment. Joe Gillis (William Holden), a
broke and cynical young screenwriter, is attempting to ditch a pair of
repo men late one afternoon when he pulls off L.A.'s storied Sunset
Boulevard and into the driveway of a seedy mansion belonging to Norma
Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a forgotten silent movie luminary whose
brilliant acting career withered with the coming of talkies. The
demented old movie queen lives in the past, assisted by her devoted
(but intimidating) butler, Max (played by Erich von Stroheim, the
legendary director of Greed and
Swanson's own lost epic, Queen
Kelly). Norma dreams of making a comeback in a remake of
Salome to be directed by her old colleague Cecil B. DeMille (as
himself), and Joe becomes her literary and romantic gigolo. Sunset
Blvd. is one of those great movies that has become a part of
popular culture (the line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my
close-up," has entered the language)--but it's no relic. Wow, does it
ever hold up. --Jim Emerson
