Opening

86% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
22% Erased May 17
90% Frances Ha May 17
44% The English Teacher May 17
42% Black Rock May 17
77% Pieta May 17
—— Populaire May 17
21% 33 Postcards May 17

Top Box Office

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56% Oblivion $4.1M
69% The Croods $3.6M
98% Mud $2.5M
8% The Big Wedding $2.5M
60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
79% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
—— Epic May 24
94% Before Midnight May 24

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

tomatometer

98

Average Rating: 9.3/10
Reviews Counted: 56
Fresh: 55 | Rotten: 1

Arguably the greatest movie about Hollywood, Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is a tremendously entertaining combination of noir, black comedy, and character study.

100

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 0

Arguably the greatest movie about Hollywood, Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is a tremendously entertaining combination of noir, black comedy, and character study.

audience

94

liked it
Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 48,801

My Rating

Movie Info

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard ranks among the most scathing satires of Hollywood and the cruel fickleness of movie fandom. The story begins at the end as the body of Joe Gillis (William Holden) is fished out of a Hollywood swimming pool. From The Great Beyond, Joe details the circumstances of his untimely demise (originally, the film contained a lengthy prologue wherein the late Mr. Gillis told his tale to his fellow corpses in the city morgue, but this elicited such laughter during the

Unrated,

Drama, Classics

Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder

Nov 26, 2002

Paramount Pictures

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Cast

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All Critics (58) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (1) | DVD (28)

A tour de force for Swanson and one of Wilder's better efforts.

August 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
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...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.

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
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One of Wilder's finest, and certainly the blackest of all Hollywood's scab-scratching accounts of itself.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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Still the best Hollywood movie ever made about Hollywood.

September 29, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
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What's not recognized enough is the indelible, self-sickened performance of William Holden as Desmond's boy-toy/hired hack.

July 29, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
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This is the greatest film about Hollywood ever put on celluloid by Hollywood.

April 3, 2003 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
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One of the great joys of the film is watching the way in which William Holden's naturalistic performance clashes with an actress and performance style from an earlier age.

November 8, 2012 Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com
CinemaBlend.com

On the new Blu-ray release: Beautifully restored. (The film) is awash in an embarrassment of riches. Only Holden's voiceover strikes me as particularly dated by today's standards.

November 8, 2012 Full Review Source: Movie Dearest
Movie Dearest

Billy Wilder's tour of Hollywood's village of the damned finally gets its close-up on Blu-ray with an excellent A/V transfer and an overflowing extras section.

November 6, 2012 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

An uncompromising study of American decadence displaying a sad, worn, methodical beauty few films have had since the late twenties.

August 29, 2012 Full Review Source: The Nation
The Nation

A must for fans of ruthless black comedy.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment (1)
Common Sense Media

Sunset Boulevard's entire point of view is based on a gimmick. Whether one considers it an "artistic cheat" or a valid and audacious device depends up his ability and desire to suspend his disbelief.

March 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Bright Lights Film Journal
Bright Lights Film Journal

Sunset Blvd. is both great entertainment and great literature

January 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Habit
Movie Habit

Tears away at the curtain that keeps reality away from fiction.

December 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Views

Many of its featurettes ... benefit hugely from the participation of co-star Nancy Olson.

November 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com
Film-Forward.com

if you have the dream to make it to Tinsel Town, you might want to check this flick out because Hollywood is as hard on dreams as it was back in the 1950s

November 12, 2008 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comments (33)
7M Pictures

The 'centennial collection' DVD's second disc includes a large number of featurettes.

November 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

Hollywood never made a better film about the industry eating its own. (Blu-ray edition)

November 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment (1)
Movie Metropolis

Dark comedy. Film noir. Tragic romance. Hollywood satire. 'Sunset Boulevard' has it all.

November 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

The casting is perfect.

August 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]
Observer [UK]

Audience Reviews for Sunset Boulevard

From a writing standpoint, kudos for this script. There is something about getting old, in Hollywood, that is imminently topical. In this movie about making movies, the notion of growing too old to draw an audience echoes a kind of universally unspoken nightmare for everyone who becomes a "star." How ironic that this really was Gloria Swanson's swan song. After this it was all a path to obscurity for her with mostly TV parts until the end. Her melodramatic acting style is almost so over the top that you might be tempted to laugh in some scenes, but the fact that her character's story is so sad keeps you from doing so. Swanson would have had my vote for the Oscar. William Holden is so good in this; dying young is one sure solution to the problem of aging. My favorite player is Cecil B. DeMille as himself. He completely and sympathetically understands the aging star's tragedy. In Hollywood, how old is too old? An interesting commentary on a problem that must plague many Hollywood industry folks even to this day. Okay, here's a question for everyone who might want to think about it: In literature, when a narrator continues to speak after death, is that an artistic problem, or, in this case, is that perhaps a commentary on art and immortality?
June 11, 2006
binky013

Super Reviewer

The definition of timeless classic, greatly well written and directed, blending dark humor and tragic film noir - and it offers splendid performances by William Holden and Gloria Swanson, who play a sarcastic writer and a histrionic diva of yore, respectively.
January 4, 2010
blacksheepboy

Super Reviewer

    1. Norma Desmond: I am big! It's the pictures that got small.
    – Submitted by Dutch E (2 months ago)
    1. Norma Desmond: All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.
    – Submitted by Dutch E (2 months ago)
    1. Norma Desmond: I'm going to be bigger than peanut butter!
    – Submitted by Jesse K (7 months ago)
    1. Norma Desmond: And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after 'Salome' we'll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.
    – Submitted by Willie J (7 months ago)
    1. Norma Desmond: We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!
    – Submitted by Willie J (7 months ago)
    1. Norma Desmond: Alright Mr.Demille, I'm ready for my close-up.
    – Submitted by Willie J (7 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Boulevard der Dämmerung (DE)
  • Sunset Blvd. (UK)
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