Sunset Boulevard

A deranged and forgotten silent film star (Gloria Swanson) plans her comeback with the help of a hack screenwriter (William Holden).

Sunset Blvd. is a near-perfect expose of the dark side of Hollywood. Director Billy Wilder, along with writing partner Charles Brackett, paints a harsh picture of an ego grown monstrous after being fed for years by an adoring public, only to turn on itself once the public was no more. While this subject matter may not be the taboo it was in 1950, one need only turn on any celebrity newscast to see how relevant it is today.

Narrating the story, is hack screenwriter Joe Gillis, played so perfectly by William Holden that it’s hard to believe he wasn’t Wilder’s first, or even forth, choice. With the Gillis character Wilder, who always considered himself a writer first and foremost, vents some of his frustrations of working in the studio system. While these bits don’t hold up quite as well in the era of million-dollar “power” screenwriters, they still speak volumes to the “manufactured” nature of Hollywood films.

Gloria Swanson gives a tightrope performance should have won her an Academy Award (Judy Holliday won that year for Born Yesterday). Swanson’s performance is so gut-wrenchingly real that several of her scenes are actually uncomfortable to watch, such is the feeling that you really are watching someone slip farther and farther into madness.

Indeed, Sunset Blvd. is almost perfect, except for Nancy Olson. In a film that longs to expose the artificiality of Hollywood, her character and sub-plot both reek of the very artificiality the film seems to distain. Maybe a more seasoned actress could have turned this into a satire-within-a-satire, which, perhaps, was Wilder and Brackett’s intent, but Olson lacks the presence necessary to pull it off, and her whole character feels forced.

Still, despite this misstep Sunset Blvd. is an amazing film and frighteningly relevant, even over half a century later.