SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950): 75th Anniversary
In Billy Wilder’s enduring masterpiece, Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond, a silent-movie star who hires a hapless screenwriter to mount her ultimately doomed comeback.
Description
Billy Wilder’s timeless and prescient masterpiece SUNSET BOULEVARD is perhaps the ultimate film about Hollywood. It tells the story of Joe Gillis (William Holden), a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who stumbles into the decaying mansion of former silent-movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). When Norma hires Joe to polish the script for her comeback, he is drawn into a celluloid web of delusion and madness.
In this biting satire of the intoxicating highs and excruciating lows of show business, Swanson delivers one of the most electrifying performances ever put on film—embodying a woman who could not, or would not, change with the times.
This film is part of 1950 Oscar Best Actress Trifecta, a trio of films playing at BAM on Saturday October 11.
Director
Billy Wilder
Writer
Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D. M. Marshman Jr.
Cast
William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, Jack Webb
Showtimes
In-Person
5:00 PM - BAM Rose Cinemas
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