Finally saw Sunset Boulevard (spoilers)

Nancy Olsen is still alive.

The film is one in a string that, particularly auteurs, Hollywood likes to make from time to time. It tends to bring out the best because it is something that they know.

Obviously, a recent example is Babylon. QT made Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The Coens made Hail Caesar!. Tim Burton made Ed Wood.

Most directors of any stature get around to it eventually and Billy Wilder had his here. The acting was top notch with a lot of cameos that gave a nod to the silent era. This was, sort of, the "talkies" way of recognizing the previous generation. It was also a not-so-subtle dig at the way the system chewed up folks, particularly women, and discarded them when they were no longer of value. I'm surprised it got made in the era of Jack Warner and Daryl Zanuck running things at their respective studios. This was Paramount right around the time of the forced sell off of their cinemas. The end of an era as well.

Billy Wilder is in the discussion of best writer/directors of all time. He won 3 best screenplay Oscars and Sunset Boulevard is the middle one (between The Lost Weekend and The Apartment) - of course he won the best director Oscar for the other 2, losing for Sunset Boulevard to Joe Mankiewicz (All About Eve).

Billy only directed 26 or so features and was nominated for Best Director 8 times, winning the 2 mentioned above. He had 11 screenplays nominated with 3 wins, some directed by others.

At the Oscars, Sunset Boulevard had nominations in all major categories: Picture, Director, the 4 acting categories and screenplay, winning screenplay, art direction and score. Wilder would later direct Holden to his only Best Actor Oscar win in Stalag 17 (thus directing him in 2 of his 3 nominated performances, with Network rounding it out). Sunset Boulevard was Nancy Olsen's only Oscar nomination, appearing with Holden in 4 films, total. Gloria Swanson won a Golden Globe for the movie, but her feature film career revival was reasonably short-lived. She did find a home on television, working well into the 1970s.

It is commonly listed among the greatest films of all time.

It’s a great movie. Both Swanson and von Stroheim were major silent-era stars. Joe is a tragic figure who redeems himself by not leaving the mansion with Betty when she asks him. But he is also consistently kind to Norma and really doesn’t seem to be on the take too much.

The thing that bugs me about SB is the point of departure. Joe should let them take his car. He lives in Hollywood, which at that time was as walkable as Manhattan. Get a job as a waiter and keep writing like 99% of screenwriters in LA.

Nancy Olsen was underrated casting.

Contempt. Not much sympathy at all for her