I've heard about this movie since before I was even a teenager, and have seen little snip-its of the film, and have always wanted to see it, but I hadn't actually seen it until tonight - at age 46.
It's one of those movies that you hear so much about - you hear the praises and glorification, but when you know you'll finally be seeing it, you wonder if you're going to be disappointed, like I certainly was with 'Gone With The Wind'. The only thing I was disappointed with Sunset Boulevard, is I wish it was in full color. Other then that, THIS MOVIE WAS FANTASTIC!!
It was really a gutsy move to make this back at that time, with Hollywood trying to hang on to all the glamor and glitz (behind their mask), because I do not believe that Swanson's character, Norma Desmond, only represented one woman. I believe her character was symbolic of sooooooo many actors and actresses (but mainly actresses, because of the main value placed with actresses are youth and beauty. An aging male actor is still more marketable then a middle aged actress.) There seems to be certain professions that draw certain types of people. Acting seems to draw an ENORMOUS amount of hyper-insecure, overly dramatic, and overly sensitive people - those that just thrive on gaining attention from others. The insecurity very quickly becomes egomania, snobbishness, and false pride when they gain a bit of fame, and then they become professional victims who claim childhood abuse or other when they don't get their way, or when the public knows they've done something very wrong. To show certain aspects of this in a movie made back then is TRULY GUTSY!! KUDOS!! It made way for other like movies to come about, like, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Play Misty For Me", "Fatal Attraction" (Where the emotionally disturbed woman was played by Glenn Close, who later played Norma Desmond in the Broadway version of Sunset Blvd.), and so many others.
I would highly recommend seeing this flick. Now that I have finally seen this, it is now time to own it!!
It's one of those movies that you hear so much about - you hear the praises and glorification, but when you know you'll finally be seeing it, you wonder if you're going to be disappointed, like I certainly was with 'Gone With The Wind'. The only thing I was disappointed with Sunset Boulevard, is I wish it was in full color. Other then that, THIS MOVIE WAS FANTASTIC!!
It was really a gutsy move to make this back at that time, with Hollywood trying to hang on to all the glamor and glitz (behind their mask), because I do not believe that Swanson's character, Norma Desmond, only represented one woman. I believe her character was symbolic of sooooooo many actors and actresses (but mainly actresses, because of the main value placed with actresses are youth and beauty. An aging male actor is still more marketable then a middle aged actress.) There seems to be certain professions that draw certain types of people. Acting seems to draw an ENORMOUS amount of hyper-insecure, overly dramatic, and overly sensitive people - those that just thrive on gaining attention from others. The insecurity very quickly becomes egomania, snobbishness, and false pride when they gain a bit of fame, and then they become professional victims who claim childhood abuse or other when they don't get their way, or when the public knows they've done something very wrong. To show certain aspects of this in a movie made back then is TRULY GUTSY!! KUDOS!! It made way for other like movies to come about, like, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Play Misty For Me", "Fatal Attraction" (Where the emotionally disturbed woman was played by Glenn Close, who later played Norma Desmond in the Broadway version of Sunset Blvd.), and so many others.
I would highly recommend seeing this flick. Now that I have finally seen this, it is now time to own it!!