BETTY: I come from a picture family. Oversized, like everything else in... Norma Desmond: I am big! JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. … Betty Schaefer: With a wildly beating heart. Consistently named one of the best movies of all time, Sunset Blvd. BETTY: Look at this street. follows a Hollywood silent film actress who once thought her star was indestructible as she fades into oblivion. Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. It's the pictures that got small. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. is a 1950 American film noir about the efforts of a faded movie star to entrap an unsuspecting down-on-his-luck screenwriter into her fantasy world in which she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! Sunset Boulevard begins with Joe’s corpse in the pool, immediately introducing audiences to the film's bleak, cynical tone. You used to be big. It's the pictures that got small. Ready for those cameras that would never turn. All done with mirrors. I like it better than any street in the world. All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. You see, this is my life! Betty Schaefer: We could make some paper boats and have a regatta. You can't deny: girl's got charisma. Well, they didn't like my nose – it slanted this way a little. ], [after hearing that Norma Desmond has come to see DeMille]. © 2020 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal. Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead.”, “Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture; they think the actors make it up as they go along.”, “There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after 'Salome' we'll make another picture and another picture. The big irony here is that her acting ultimately proved to be the problem. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! Talk! Norma Desmond: I am big. It's more like freshly-laundered linen handkerchiefs, like a brand new automobile. It always will be! Get quotes about Appearances from the movie Sunset Boulevard - see who said each quote along with a description about what they mean, and how they relate to Appearances. Sunset Boulevard Quotes. Then they got a couple of pruning hooks from the garden and fished me out, ever so gently. Meta • Without me, there wouldn't be any Paramount studio. Betty Schaefer: No, Phillip, no. TALK!”, “And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after, “This is New Year's Eve. Norma Desmond. And who've we got now? Joe Gillis: May I say that you smell really special? It's an example of how showbiz demands that people make changes to themselves if they want to become—or stay—relevant. Note: bolded line is ranked #24 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. You see, this is my life! Betty grew up in showbiz, so, in her eyes, the fake street isn't just a fake—it's a symbol of the imaginative power that supposedly drives Hollywood. Appearances. All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up! We must be strong. A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity. NORMA: They don't? Then why do they still write me fan letters every day? But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! [He gets up, starts out, turns] Suddenly I find myself terribly afraid of losing you. Then the studio made a test. They took the idols and smashed them, the Fairbankses, the Gilberts, the Valentinos! Joe Gillis: The last week in December the rains came. It's dawn now, and they must have photographed me a thousand times. It was like that old woman in Great Expectations—that Miss Havisham in her rotting wedding dress and her torn veil, taking it out on the world because she'd been given the go-by. List RulesUpvote your favorite Sunset Blvd. Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark. Norma’s dead monkey signifies the emptiness of her existence and the opening for a new companion in her life—a role soon fulfilled by Joe. It's just one more instance of her neurotic self-obsession. Which is maybe the point? I am big. All rights reserved. I knew there was something wrong with them. Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond. It's the Pictures that have gotten small. quotes, with movie clips, ranked by fans. The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her.”, “The poor dope—he always wanted a pool. Nothing else! Norma Desmond: All … 1 likes. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool.”, “Well, this is where you came in, back at that pool again, the one I always wanted. is a 1950 American film noir about the efforts of a faded movie star to entrap an unsuspecting down-on-his-luck screenwriter into her fantasy world in which she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. I don't usually get star struck, but I met Sir Paul McCartney randomly on Sunset Boulevard a few years ago, and I lost it! How about living it up a little? Looking at a sunset, just for a second you forget your separateness: you are the sunset. And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after 'Salome' we'll make another picture and another picture. This list of great movie quotes from Sunset Blvd. JOE: Honestly, it's a little old hat. (Also, Norma's servant Max is secretly writing most—if not all—of those fan letters.).