Variety
They rate a nod for daring, as well as credit for an all-around filmmaking job that, disregarding the unpleasant subject matter, is a standout.
Full review
Sunset Boulevard
Classic 1950 noir from Billy Wilder about a failed screenwriter (William Holden) who is drawn into the twisted fantasy world of a former silent-screen star (Gloria Swanson), as she yearns for a triumphant return. Voted the 16th best American film of all time by the American Film Institute in 2007.
Wilder would go on to direct the Marilyn Monroe classic Some Like It Hot and the 1961 Best Picture Oscar-winner The Apartment.
Less1950Rating: PG, Low level coarse language110 minsUSA
DramaClassic
- Director:
- Billy Wilder ('Some Like It Hot', 'The Apartment', 'The Lost Weekend')
- Writer:
- Billy WilderCharles BrackettD. M. MarshmanJr.
- Cast:
- William HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimNancy OlsonFred Clark
Sunset Boulevard | Awards
Best Screenplay, Art Direction and Music winner at 1951 Academy Awards. Best Film (Drama), Director, Actress (Swanson) and Score at the 1951 Golden Globes
Sunset Boulevard | Reviews
Time Out
One of Wilder's finest, and certainly the blackest of all Hollywood's scab-scratching accounts of itself.
Full review
The New York Times
While all the acting is memorable, one thinks first of Miss Swanson, of her manifestation of consuming pride, her forlorn despair and a truly magnificent impersonation of Charlie Chaplin.
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Roger Ebert
Remains the best drama ever made about the movies because it sees through the illusions, even if Norma doesn't.
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