Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Dana and Tom are back to discuss another Billy Wilder classic, Sunset Boulevard, starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson.

Plot Summary: Joe Gillis (William Holden), a down-on-his luck screenplay writer, cannot pay his bills and fails to sell an idea for a script. Fleeing creditors, Joe ends up at a mansion, soon recognizing the owner as a forgotten silent film star, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Learning that Joe is a writer, Norma soon has Joe working for her, and he moves into Norma's mansion at her insistence. Aided by her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim), Joe gradually accepts his dependent situation as Norma lavishes attention on Joe and buys him expensive things. However, after Joe starts to work on a screenplay with Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), Norma discovers a manuscript with their names on it, and she phones Betty insinuating that Joe is not the man he seems. But nothing is as it seems to be, including reality.

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