Hollywood will chew you up and spit you out. Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) knows that all too well. Once a big name silent movie star, Norma spends her advancing years rotting away in a mansion on Sunset Boulevard, deludedly believing that she is still a star and that her ‘return’ to the big screen is eminent. A broke, struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) ends up on Norma’s front doorstep when his car gets a flat. Joe quickly charms Norma into hiring him as her script doctor, and he soon moves in. But the closer he gets the more he discovers how surreal and unhealthy Norma’s personal world is.

Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote this classic film noir, which pretty accurately sums up the highs and lows Hollywood can put one through. Wilder is considered one of the best screenwriters (if not the best) in history; his films and the characters in them are still funny, insightful, and endlessly charismatic. Sunset Boulevard’s opening and narrative structure remain surprising and unique by today's standards. Includes small roles by real movie-making royalty including Cecil B. Demille, Hedda Hopper, and Buster Keaton.