Sunset Blvd. Quotes
Joe Gillis : I'm not an executive, just a writer.
Norma Desmond : You are, are you? writing words, words, more words! Well, you'll make a rope of words and strangle this business! With a microphone there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongues!
Norma Desmond : You are, are you? writing words, words, more words! Well, you'll make a rope of words and strangle this business! With a microphone there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongues!
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis (as narrator) : You don't yell at a sleepwalker. He may fall and break his neck.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis : So they were turning after all, those cameras. Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond. The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
First assistant director : [ about Norma Desmond ] She must be a million years old.
Cecil B. DeMille : I hate to think where that puts me. I could be her father.
Cecil B. DeMille : I hate to think where that puts me. I could be her father.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis : Tell her, Max. C'mon, do her that favor. Tell her there isn't going to be any picture. Tell her there are no fan letters other than the ones you write.
Norma Desmond : It's not true! Max!
Max Von Mayerling : Madame is the greatest star of them all.
Norma Desmond : It's not true! Max!
Max Von Mayerling : Madame is the greatest star of them all.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Policeman : [ calling on the phone ] Coroner's office. Who's on this line?
Hedda Hopper : [ in Norma's room, on the phone ] I am. Now, get off. This is more important.
Hedda Hopper : [ in Norma's room, on the phone ] I am. Now, get off. This is more important.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis : [ Joe is reading Norma's script ] Sometimes it's interesting to see just how bad bad writing can be. This promised to go the limit.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Max Von Mayerling : There were three young directors who showed promise in those days: D. W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, and Max Von Mayerling.
Joe Gillis : And she made you her servant.
Max Von Mayerling : It was I who asked to come back. I could have continued my career, but I found it unbearable after she'd left me. You see, I was her first husband.
Joe Gillis : And she made you her servant.
Max Von Mayerling : It was I who asked to come back. I could have continued my career, but I found it unbearable after she'd left me. You see, I was her first husband.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Max Von Mayerling : You see those offices up there? That was Madame's dressing room, the whole row.
Joe Gillis : Didn't leave much for Wallace Reid.
Max Von Mayerling : Oh, he had a big bungalow on wheels.
Joe Gillis : Didn't leave much for Wallace Reid.
Max Von Mayerling : Oh, he had a big bungalow on wheels.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
[ first lines ]
Joe Gillis : Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It's about 5 0'clock in the morning. That's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men.
Joe Gillis : Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It's about 5 0'clock in the morning. That's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Betty Schaefer : I've been hoping to run into you.
Joe Gillis : What for? To recover that knife you stuck in my back?
Joe Gillis : What for? To recover that knife you stuck in my back?
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
First assistant director : I understand she [ Norma Desmond ]
First assistant director : was a terror to work with.
Cecil B. DeMille : Only toward the end. You know, a dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit.
First assistant director : was a terror to work with.
Cecil B. DeMille : Only toward the end. You know, a dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Betty Schaefer : Where have you been keeping yourself? I've got the most wonderful news for you.
Joe Gillis : I haven't been keeping myself at all, lately.
Joe Gillis : I haven't been keeping myself at all, lately.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Norma Desmond : You're a writer, you said.
Joe Gillis : Why?
Norma Desmond : Are you or aren't you?
Joe Gillis : That's what it says on my Guild card.
Norma Desmond : And you have written pictures, haven't you?
Joe Gillis : I sure have. Want a list of my credits?
Norma Desmond : I want to ask you something. Come in here.
Joe Gillis : Last one I wrote was about Okies in the Dust Bowl. You'd never know because when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat.
Joe Gillis : Why?
Norma Desmond : Are you or aren't you?
Joe Gillis : That's what it says on my Guild card.
Norma Desmond : And you have written pictures, haven't you?
Joe Gillis : I sure have. Want a list of my credits?
Norma Desmond : I want to ask you something. Come in here.
Joe Gillis : Last one I wrote was about Okies in the Dust Bowl. You'd never know because when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Betty Schaefer : Oh, the old familiar story. You help a timid little soul cross a crowded street, she turns out to be a multimillionaire and leaves you all her money.
Joe Gillis : That's the trouble with you readers, you know all the plots
Joe Gillis : That's the trouble with you readers, you know all the plots
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis : Norma, you're a woman of 50, now grow up. There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis : [ who has just has a visit from two men trying to repossess his car ] [ narrating ]
Joe Gillis : I was way ahead of the finance company. I knew they'd be becoming around and I wasn't taking any chances. So I kept it across the street in a parking lot behind Rudy's shoeshine parlour. Rudy never asked any questions about your finances... he'd just look at your heels and know the score.
Joe Gillis : I was way ahead of the finance company. I knew they'd be becoming around and I wasn't taking any chances. So I kept it across the street in a parking lot behind Rudy's shoeshine parlour. Rudy never asked any questions about your finances... he'd just look at your heels and know the score.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Betty Schaefer : Perhaps the reason I hated "Bases Loaded" is that I knew your name. I'd always heard you had some talent.
Joe Gillis : That was last year. This year I'm trying to earn a living.
Joe Gillis : That was last year. This year I'm trying to earn a living.
Movie: Sunset Blvd.
Joe Gillis : [ narrating ] Come think of it, the whole place seemed to have been stricken with the kind of creeping paralysis... out of beat with the rest of the world... crumbling apart in slow motion. There was a tennis court... or rather the ghost of a tennis court... with faded markings and a sagging net... And of course she had a pool. Who didn't then? Mabel Norman and John Gilbert must swum in it ten thousand midnights ago... It was empty now. Or was it? [ cut to close-up of rats ]
Movie: Sunset Blvd.