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Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (1950) is one of the most famous films in the history of Hollywood, and perhaps no film better represents Hollywood's vision of itself. Billy Wilder collaborated on the screenplay with the very able Charles Brackett, and with D. M. Marshman Jr., who later joined the team. Together they created a film both allusive and literate, with Hollywood's worst excesses and neuroses laid out for all to see. After viewing Sunset Boulevard Louis B. Mayer "We should throw this Wilder out of town!" The New York Times , however, gave the movie a rave review, praising "that rare blend of pungent writing, expert acting, masterly direction, and unobtrusively artistic photography." The film was nominated for Best Picture, and Wilder won an Academy Award for Best Story and Best Screenplay.
This facsimile edition of Sunset Boulevard makes it possible to get as much pleasure from reading the highly intelligent screenplay as from seeing the film. Jeffrey Meyers's introduction provides an intriguing array of background details about Wilder, the film's casting and production, and the lives of those connected to what has become a classic.
This facsimile edition of Sunset Boulevard makes it possible to get as much pleasure from reading the highly intelligent screenplay as from seeing the film. Jeffrey Meyers's introduction provides an intriguing array of background details about Wilder, the film's casting and production, and the lives of those connected to what has become a classic.
147 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Billy Wilder
46 books49 followersBilly Wilder (born Samuel Wilder) was a Polish-born, Jewish-American journalist, screenwriter, Academy Award-winning film director and producer, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Many of Wilder's films achieved both critical and public acclaim.
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June 18, 2022The script reads just as smoothly as watching the finished film. This satire is the perfect genre mashup - part noir, part horror story, part screwball comedy - and just plain savage in every way possible. Wilder was one of the greatest of all time.
October 11, 2020
MID-20TH CENTURY NORTH AMERICAN CRIME/MYSTERY READATHON
BOOK/SCREENPLAY
>>>UNFINISHED REVIEW
Sunset Blvd
Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and D.M. Marshman, Jr. (1950)
BOOK /Screenplay – Mid-20th Century North American Crime Readathon – The Best
For me, this is the best original screenplay I read and I have to agree with Sam Thomas in his collection titled “Best American Screenplays 3” (1995)* when he says, “Without a doubt, ‘Sunset Blvd’ is the best picture ever made about Hollywood itself, with perhaps ‘A Star is Born’ and ‘The Player’ as runners-up. The reason? See “HOOK” and “PLOT” below.
But first, some words from Sam Thomas about the screenwriters: Charles Brackett “studied law at Harvard…served as a second lieutenant during WW1…published his first novel in 1920 titled “The Council of the Ungodly”…signed a contract with Paramount in 1932 and was assigned to work with Billy Wilder. D.M.Marshman, Jr., “collaborated on “Sunset Blvd”, received a joint credit for the screenplay of “Taxi” in 1952, and a credit for story and adaptation of the film “Second Chance” in 1953. And Wilder? After “Sunset” he went on to the great “Some Like It Hot” and “The Apartment.”
HOOK – 5 stars:
“Fade in:
Camera pan up to view of Sunset Blvd, includes two motorcycle officers speeding forward, followed by three police cars, sirens going.
GILLIS’S VOICE (simultaneously)
Yes, this is Sunset Blvd…A murder has been reported…You’ll get it over your radio and see it on television, because an old-time star is involved…one of the biggest…You see the body of a young man was found floating in the pool at her mansion…”
A sensational opener, it’s one of my favorites of any movie. The dead body floating in the pool of an old Hollywood mansion is that of the narrator, Gillis. And at this point, if you’re not interested in seeing the rest of this movie, you’re probably more of a reader than movie-goer. Or you just don’t like films about Hollywood (I found ‘LaLaLand’ annoying also).
PACE – 4: After the dead body is seen, Gillis flashes back to his attempts to break into Hollywood as a screenwriter. As long as Gillis and the lead character of the film, Norma Desmond, are on the screen, the pace is pitch perfect. These are strong, sensational characters and when they aren’t in scenes, the screenplay slows a bit for me. (My understanding is that for the initial Broadway production, a body actually floating in water and visible to audience members was attempted, as the curtains opened, but it didn’t work and was discarded.)
PLOT – 5: Money. Sex. Fame. Murder. Career ups and downs. ‘Love’ and maybe the real thing. The talented. The talentless. Movie sets. Screenwriting. Hollywood heartbreaks. The past. Refusing reality. Gillis becomes the gigolo of the once-famous big screen star, Norma Desmond (based on Gloria Swanson and played by Swanson herself to perfection). After his dead body is shown, we flash back to Gillis’ accidental arrival at Desmond’s decaying mansion: she’s planning the burial of her pet monkey. (It’s not for nothing she is burying a pet: that’s part of who she is, a gravedigger for everyone and everything except her lost past.) And the transition from the dead man to the dead monkey is far more enhanced in the screenplay, and it’s a vital and telling scene. Gillis is hired by Desmond to write her great comeback film and moves in with her. The film is a Biblical epic, very popular in early Hollywood. (Similarly, early art/sculpture was mostly religious in nature and when artists switched to imagined scenes/people/etc., there was much scandal.) A butler, Max Von Mayerling, hovers above it all: he understands and he knows it all because he has seen it all. His main job is to protect Desmond from the truth: she is no longer relevant in Hollywood but to Desmond, there just hasn’t been a great script for her great talents. Desmond does seduce Gillis (there are only 25 or so years difference in their ages, so no double standards here!) It’s tough reading this screenplay and not picturing William Holden (Gillis) and Gloria Swanson (a true-to-life glorious movie star) and Erich von Stronheim (a true-to-life early Hollywood director) as the film cast is perfect. You already know things don’t end well.
CAST – 5: Norma Desmond is a stereotype, certainly. She’s a woman of a certain age who has been tossed aside by Hollywood in favor of pretty young things. It’s no secret that her final line, the final line of the film, is iconic: “…All right, Mr... DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” She has descended into madness: sadly, fame and money does that to some people and at an even earlier age. I’ve written 7 screenplays myself and tried to just get someone to read them, but no, I’m lacking that natural talent along with having no contacts. If you’ve already written your own Oscar acceptance speech, you’ll get Gillis. He can’t pay his rent, he can’t buy clothes to look nice for his girl in the real world (as oppose to Desmond’s decaying house) but maybe, just maybe, there is some kind of ‘in’ through Desmond. Gillis doesn’t have a natural talent, he knows it, Desmond realizes it along with Max, who tries his best to keep things within a realm of sanity.
ATMOSPHERE – 5: Norma Desmond’s garage is described as ‘an enormous five-car affair, neglected and empty except for a large, dust-covered Isotta-Fraschini propped up on blocks.’ Desmond’s house: ‘It is a grandiose, Italianate structure, mottled by the years, gloomy, forsaken, the little formal garden completely gone to seed…It was just big and still, one of those white elephants crazy movie people built in the crazy twenties.’ Desmond’s entrance hall: “The whole place is one of those abortions of silent-picture days, with bowling alleys in the cellar and a built-in pipe organs…” This is a creepfest, haunted by days long gone, along with Desmond’s mind.
SUMMARY – 4.8: Hollywood has filmed few screenplays about itself so gloomy, so painful. And still, Gillis wants to be a part of it. And so do millions of others. And in the end, yes, Gillis gets his minutes of fame and glory. A screenplay masterpiece, great enough to be read and enjoyed outside the film itself.
PLEASE NOTE that >>>>>and<<<<< indicate the start and end of sections/scenes from work between which there might be quotations indicating character dialogue.
*ISBN 0-517-59104-9
BOOK/SCREENPLAY
>>>UNFINISHED REVIEW
Sunset Blvd
Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and D.M. Marshman, Jr. (1950)
BOOK /Screenplay – Mid-20th Century North American Crime Readathon – The Best
For me, this is the best original screenplay I read and I have to agree with Sam Thomas in his collection titled “Best American Screenplays 3” (1995)* when he says, “Without a doubt, ‘Sunset Blvd’ is the best picture ever made about Hollywood itself, with perhaps ‘A Star is Born’ and ‘The Player’ as runners-up. The reason? See “HOOK” and “PLOT” below.
But first, some words from Sam Thomas about the screenwriters: Charles Brackett “studied law at Harvard…served as a second lieutenant during WW1…published his first novel in 1920 titled “The Council of the Ungodly”…signed a contract with Paramount in 1932 and was assigned to work with Billy Wilder. D.M.Marshman, Jr., “collaborated on “Sunset Blvd”, received a joint credit for the screenplay of “Taxi” in 1952, and a credit for story and adaptation of the film “Second Chance” in 1953. And Wilder? After “Sunset” he went on to the great “Some Like It Hot” and “The Apartment.”
HOOK – 5 stars:
“Fade in:
Camera pan up to view of Sunset Blvd, includes two motorcycle officers speeding forward, followed by three police cars, sirens going.
GILLIS’S VOICE (simultaneously)
Yes, this is Sunset Blvd…A murder has been reported…You’ll get it over your radio and see it on television, because an old-time star is involved…one of the biggest…You see the body of a young man was found floating in the pool at her mansion…”
A sensational opener, it’s one of my favorites of any movie. The dead body floating in the pool of an old Hollywood mansion is that of the narrator, Gillis. And at this point, if you’re not interested in seeing the rest of this movie, you’re probably more of a reader than movie-goer. Or you just don’t like films about Hollywood (I found ‘LaLaLand’ annoying also).
PACE – 4: After the dead body is seen, Gillis flashes back to his attempts to break into Hollywood as a screenwriter. As long as Gillis and the lead character of the film, Norma Desmond, are on the screen, the pace is pitch perfect. These are strong, sensational characters and when they aren’t in scenes, the screenplay slows a bit for me. (My understanding is that for the initial Broadway production, a body actually floating in water and visible to audience members was attempted, as the curtains opened, but it didn’t work and was discarded.)
PLOT – 5: Money. Sex. Fame. Murder. Career ups and downs. ‘Love’ and maybe the real thing. The talented. The talentless. Movie sets. Screenwriting. Hollywood heartbreaks. The past. Refusing reality. Gillis becomes the gigolo of the once-famous big screen star, Norma Desmond (based on Gloria Swanson and played by Swanson herself to perfection). After his dead body is shown, we flash back to Gillis’ accidental arrival at Desmond’s decaying mansion: she’s planning the burial of her pet monkey. (It’s not for nothing she is burying a pet: that’s part of who she is, a gravedigger for everyone and everything except her lost past.) And the transition from the dead man to the dead monkey is far more enhanced in the screenplay, and it’s a vital and telling scene. Gillis is hired by Desmond to write her great comeback film and moves in with her. The film is a Biblical epic, very popular in early Hollywood. (Similarly, early art/sculpture was mostly religious in nature and when artists switched to imagined scenes/people/etc., there was much scandal.) A butler, Max Von Mayerling, hovers above it all: he understands and he knows it all because he has seen it all. His main job is to protect Desmond from the truth: she is no longer relevant in Hollywood but to Desmond, there just hasn’t been a great script for her great talents. Desmond does seduce Gillis (there are only 25 or so years difference in their ages, so no double standards here!) It’s tough reading this screenplay and not picturing William Holden (Gillis) and Gloria Swanson (a true-to-life glorious movie star) and Erich von Stronheim (a true-to-life early Hollywood director) as the film cast is perfect. You already know things don’t end well.
CAST – 5: Norma Desmond is a stereotype, certainly. She’s a woman of a certain age who has been tossed aside by Hollywood in favor of pretty young things. It’s no secret that her final line, the final line of the film, is iconic: “…All right, Mr... DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” She has descended into madness: sadly, fame and money does that to some people and at an even earlier age. I’ve written 7 screenplays myself and tried to just get someone to read them, but no, I’m lacking that natural talent along with having no contacts. If you’ve already written your own Oscar acceptance speech, you’ll get Gillis. He can’t pay his rent, he can’t buy clothes to look nice for his girl in the real world (as oppose to Desmond’s decaying house) but maybe, just maybe, there is some kind of ‘in’ through Desmond. Gillis doesn’t have a natural talent, he knows it, Desmond realizes it along with Max, who tries his best to keep things within a realm of sanity.
ATMOSPHERE – 5: Norma Desmond’s garage is described as ‘an enormous five-car affair, neglected and empty except for a large, dust-covered Isotta-Fraschini propped up on blocks.’ Desmond’s house: ‘It is a grandiose, Italianate structure, mottled by the years, gloomy, forsaken, the little formal garden completely gone to seed…It was just big and still, one of those white elephants crazy movie people built in the crazy twenties.’ Desmond’s entrance hall: “The whole place is one of those abortions of silent-picture days, with bowling alleys in the cellar and a built-in pipe organs…” This is a creepfest, haunted by days long gone, along with Desmond’s mind.
SUMMARY – 4.8: Hollywood has filmed few screenplays about itself so gloomy, so painful. And still, Gillis wants to be a part of it. And so do millions of others. And in the end, yes, Gillis gets his minutes of fame and glory. A screenplay masterpiece, great enough to be read and enjoyed outside the film itself.
PLEASE NOTE that >>>>>and<<<<< indicate the start and end of sections/scenes from work between which there might be quotations indicating character dialogue.
*ISBN 0-517-59104-9
March 31, 2020
Chose this to claim as "read" because not only is it a terrific movie but it's also very screenplay-driven.
And that screenplay, as screenplay, is...ineffable. Immortal.
Luminously bitter, elegantly cynical, rich with suggestions for performance and interpretation but really could be read on its own as a short story.
A tale of the desires that make people want to go into pictures and the ways in which the world of Hollywood eats its children.
Not to be missed.
And it's extra relevant these days, too: https://www.the-american-interest.com...
On Billy Wilder's tombstone it sez: "I'm a writer...but nobody's perfect!"
And that screenplay, as screenplay, is...ineffable. Immortal.
Luminously bitter, elegantly cynical, rich with suggestions for performance and interpretation but really could be read on its own as a short story.
A tale of the desires that make people want to go into pictures and the ways in which the world of Hollywood eats its children.
Not to be missed.
And it's extra relevant these days, too: https://www.the-american-interest.com...
On Billy Wilder's tombstone it sez: "I'm a writer...but nobody's perfect!"
December 12, 2012
In college I used to hear how this was the most AMAZING script ever written and I would roll my eyes. Couldn't be all that! Well...it is. It's perfection.
September 5, 2021
Como Mary Poppins: absolutamente perfecto en todo.
November 21, 2020
I read this for an American lit class, and it's a lot of fun. Larger than life characters, drama, the whole works. I did really like Betty, the young wannabe writer.
I have to watch the movie next, and I'm curious how similar it will feel.
I have to watch the movie next, and I'm curious how similar it will feel.
September 28, 2025
Not really sure how to rate this cause it's technically a movie script? But I'm excited to watch the movie now - it's giving shutter island but in an old-school, Hollywood kind of way?
December 22, 2023
all my homies hate joe gillis
December 24, 2022
I noticed this screenplay and realized I had never seen the movie. I had seen the famous end of the movie but that was it. So I read this so that I’d know a bit more than the “I’m ready for my close up” part if it. This was just a quick little read that left me with a better understanding of what came before that line.
March 10, 2025
🖊 This is an outstanding story of denial, lust, greed, delusion, and mental sickness. This rates among my favorite movies.
📕Published — 1950.
🎥 1950 black comedy movie version with Gloria Swanson, Eric Von Stroheim, William Holden, Jack Webb.
༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺
📕Published — 1950.
🎥 1950 black comedy movie version with Gloria Swanson, Eric Von Stroheim, William Holden, Jack Webb.
༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺
July 14, 2020
great stars have great pride; go away
February 22, 2022
Nothing Norma wanted ever got away. One of the scariest female characters ever.
June 1, 2022
‘Sometimes it's interesting to see just how good—good writing can be. This promised to go the limit.’
May 29, 2023
lowkey grew on me, ik this is a film but i need my fans on bookreads to know about sunset boulevard
November 19, 2023
good god. I hate men. I hate joe gillis. no woman would ever do any of that
April 8, 2019
This is a screenplay, so I almost put it back. I don't even like reading plays. But I brought it back from my Library bag, and gave it a shot. I'm glad I did.
You know how when you're young and beautiful, and you're used to everybody falling in love with you, and you're always getting attention? This goes on for a long time, so you come to take it for granted. And then, when you're in your 50s, one day you realize that you're not getting that attention anymore, and you have to learn how to be the person that gives yourself all that love and attention that other people used to give you. Now, picture what that's like for a movie star. A very successful, glamorous, rich movie star who is used to fans worshipping her. About a thousand times worse, I guess. Meet Norma Desmond, ex-Hollywood legend, now 50+ years old and unable to accept it. She can't, so she lives in a fantasy world into which tumbles young Joe Gillis.
You know how when you're young and beautiful, and you're used to everybody falling in love with you, and you're always getting attention? This goes on for a long time, so you come to take it for granted. And then, when you're in your 50s, one day you realize that you're not getting that attention anymore, and you have to learn how to be the person that gives yourself all that love and attention that other people used to give you. Now, picture what that's like for a movie star. A very successful, glamorous, rich movie star who is used to fans worshipping her. About a thousand times worse, I guess. Meet Norma Desmond, ex-Hollywood legend, now 50+ years old and unable to accept it. She can't, so she lives in a fantasy world into which tumbles young Joe Gillis.
September 3, 2016
I actually read the stage adaptation Wilder made, that was produced as a musical with music by Andrew Loyd Webber. I read this as a long-shot possibility for production in my theater program, and it would be a long shot indeed. A fun read. I'd heard of but never seen the film (my loss I know, but I'm not terribly familiar with many classic films...). Typical of Webber the staging is a true extravaganza with cars etc. moving around the stage and huge elaborate sets. Not quite Phantom as a stage spectacle as there aren't as many staged appearances and disappearances, nor the crashing chandelier, but still one that proved beyond the reach of my High School program. The music is fun, and the script gives several fantastic roles to the leads for a larger school theater program or for a professional acting troupe. It would be fun to see it now that I've read it, film OR stage.
October 26, 2010
Great! This book includes a brief essay on Billy Wilder and the original screenplay in all its typewritten glory. That's right. It's the original typed pages with the date and draft number on each page. The screenplay also includes camera movements and detailed scene descriptions, mostly of rooms and ashtrays.
Read
September 4, 2008در صورت تمایل، جهت مشخصات فیلمی که بر اساس این کتاب ساخته شده است؛ میتوانید از لینک زیر استفاده بفرمایید
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014
March 10, 2009
Reading this for my Screenwriting class! So many great cinematic lines in this script! Great story of a star past her prime and an aspiring screenwriter!
July 7, 2012
The audio tape version.
July 5, 2016
The script for the movie. After reading this, I borrowed the DVD from the library, and found I got SO much more out of the movie than I would have otherwise.
February 16, 2017
The most powerful American story.
July 11, 2022
Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.
Norma Desmond: I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.
April 9, 2018
One of the best around :-) :-)
August 23, 2018
This was a fun romp into Hollywod's past, I have never seen the movie, but this is a book that was written after the move was made.
September 3, 2010
SO GOOD
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews