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SUNSET BOULEVARD is playing at the Colony this week. The 50th
Anniversary print looks *great*, with only a few rough patches--
places where everything appears under-lit or overly-dark. (Per-
haps a piece of film that couldn't be cleaned?) I watched with
pen in hand, jotting the many memorable moments. They're listed
below, a hundred of 'em Sweetheart, but, how 'bout a little triv-
ia first, courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (us.imdb.com)?
Swanson's role was initially offered to Mae West, Mary Pickford,
and Pola Negri. Montgomery Clift first signed to play Joe. He
dropped out and Fred MacMurray was offered the part. The "Desmond
mansion" was built in 1924 at a cost of $250,000 by William Jen-
kins. The second owner was J. Paul Getty, who purchased same for
his second wife. Mrs. Getty, later divorcing the millionaire, re-
ceived custody of the house. She, in turn, rented it for filming.
And, the movie that Norma screens in her living room is QUEEN KEL-
LY, filmed in 1929 and directed by Erich Von Stroheim, who plays
Max...
1. Curb lettering in close-up
2. Body of young man floating in pool
3. William Holden so young! And thin! And hairy-chested!
4. $290.00
5. "He'd just look at your heels and know the score"
6. "He was a smart producer with a set of ulcers to prove
it"
7. Being wrong about people wanting to see a Civil War
picture
8. Sounding a bunch of New York critics
9. IT HAPPENED IN THE BULLPEN
10. Schwab's Pharmacy, AKA "Headquarters"
11. Yes men who say no
12. "The finest things in the world are written on an empty
stomach"
13. "Uh-oh"
14. "A great, big [ choose one: empty garage | package of
rain | white elephant of a place ]"
15. Decrepit palm trees in a decrepit courtyard
16. Butler, staircase, and a monkey with its eyes closed
17. "I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small" "I
knew there was something wrong"
18. The origins of the popcorn business
19. "Words, words, more words"
20. "Young man"
21. Jutting chin
22. Raised eyebrows
23. Seemingly fused-together teeth
24. How bad bad writing can be
25. "He must've been a very important chimpanzee"
26. "This is fascinating." "Of course it is"
27. Bribed hairdressers and a pair of silk stockings
28. Strains of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor"
29. Erich Von Stroheim's scalp
30. "Cut away from *me*?"
31. "Put it back!"
32. Why yelling at sleepwalkers is not good
33. A rising cloud of illuminated cigarette smoke
34. "We didn't need dialogue. We had *faces*"
35. Buster Keaton as a fourth for bridge
36. Norma Desmond on cars: "Cheap new things made of
chromium and spit"
37. Norma Desmond on fashion: "That's a dreadful shirt
you're wearing"
38. Norma Desmond on etiquette: "And must you chew gum?"
39. Doors, but no locks
40. And don't look too closely at the postmarks
41. New Year's Eve
42. Holden in a tux; Swanson a giddy gargoyle
43. "An hour dragged by"
44. "I felt caught, like a cigarette in that contraption on
her finger"
45. Then she gets drunk
46. And Holden can't even get through the door
47. Jack Webb, young and with personality! Judas H. Priest!
48. The Rainbow Room
49. Max relates the razor; heavy chords on the soundtrack
50. "Don't race up the stairs. The musicians must not know
what happened"
51. Bandaged wrists in the foreground
52. "Go away. Go to that girl of yours"
53. And "Auld Lang Syne" plays over her sobbing
54. Spider-like fingers reaching out for his face
55. Max wears white
56. Holden looking buff in a swimsuit
57. "Check those studs! Get those cufflinks!"
58. The Norma Desmond Follies
59. Thinking that the actors make it up as they go along
60. "I've waited twenty years for this call; DeMille can
wait until I'm good and ready"
61. One half-pound of make-up
62. Max looking imperial in the driver's seat
63. "Norma who?"
64. The chain of assistants passing the word
65. A pestering boom mike
66. "C.B."
67. "Did you see that?" "Did you see how they came?"
68. "You know pictures have changed quite a bit..."
69. An army of beauty experts
70. "Ready for those cameras that would never turn"
71. "You went out last night, didn't you Joe?"
72. A signed cigarette case
73. "That's the trouble with you readers. You know all the
plots"
74. "I come from a picture family"
75. $300 nose jobs
76. "What's wrong with being on the other side of the
camera?"
77. "Nothing like being twenty-two"
78. In case of emergency, remove shoe and club head
79. "I was her first husband"
80. Then cue crashing music
81. UNTITLED LOVE STORY
82. Betty watching Joe, her arms resting arms on a
typewriter
83. Telegram from Artie
84. "What happened?" "You did"
85. She was a fool; he was a heel
86. "Here's that weird-sounding woman again..."
87. Holden throws the phone down
88. "I never got those telephone calls and I've never been
in this house!"
89. Another women breaks into tears
90. "Here's the pool"
91. Norma gapes in disbelief
92. "Max! Max!"
93. He can have anything he wants!
94. "Max! Max!" (again)
95. The greatest star of them all
96. "Goodbye Norma"
97. Three gunshots
98. Cops, reporters, passer-by's
99. Norma dramatically descends the staircase
100. "Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"
Copyright 2000 by Michael J. Legeros
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