Which Western Movie you watched / watching recently.

[Nerd]

Sunset nallA dhaanE irukkum

[P_R]

Sunset nallA dhaanE irukkum

Lead actress/character is the very definition for 5 roobai kuduththA 10 roobAi.

perusA espettAtion-ai vaLaththuttu predictable-A mudiyum.

These were my grouses.

Neenga pluses paththi sollunga

[VENKIRAJA]

Sunset nallA dhaanE irukkum

Lead actress/character is the very definition for 5 roobai kuduththA 10 roobAi.

perusA espettAtion-ai vaLaththuttu predictable-A mudiyum.

These were my grouses.

Neenga pluses paththi sollunga

adhE prachanai in ASCND. nAlu appu appalAmA-nu thONuchu!

aNNangaL ellAm edhukku sollikittu irukeenga? Neenga enakku sollAdha padamA?

The Big Lebowski Bala aNNan sonnadhAla thAn pArthEn.
Stanley/ Viv aNNan sonnadhula Kill Bill!
PR sonnadhula Annie Hall... ippidi paladhu...

[groucho070]

Sunset Bouelevard.

To say this film is a classic would be an understatement. When you are doing proper scriptwriting course or workshop, mention Hollywood and works of Ernest Lehman, William Goldman, Charles Brackett, novelist turned scripwriters Dashiell Hammet, Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler and the list will include German born writer/director Billy Wilder. (yes, Orson Welles is another one, but not consistent).

This film is easily his best.

A story about a out of job scriptwriter and an ageing ex-silent era movie star, the film is told totally from a dead man’s point of view. It begins with a body in the swimming pool of the star and voice over that narrates the tale is that of that corpse’s.

Gloria Swanson plays the forgotten star Norma Desmond who is the Miss Havisham of Tinseltown, waiting with her wedding cake for that glorious moment on big screen she no longer fits in post silent era Hollywood and the answer could be in the hands, or rather, the typewriter of young out of luck scriptwriter played by a terribly underrated William Holden, who himself is in it for the dough.

One good thing about Hollywood is that when it portrays itself onscreen, its merciless. The long suffering scriptwriters and directors are absolutely cynical with their view on the town that puts food on their table, and this film spares nothing of it at all. With cynicism comes dark humour and this film is full of it.

Gloria Swanson is not playing a character; she is herself being an ex-silent era star herself. Her over the top performance is a testimony on how out of sync she was with the world that she was forced to inhabit. She has not moved on from being the dramatic queen of silent era. When the hero tells her that she was big on screen once, she responds, “I am big. It’s the picture that got small”.

There is so much to go for in this film. The opening shot that follows cop to the body faced down on the pool. The witty crackling wisecracks. The whole issue about celebrity murder that is so contemporary (OJ Simpson anyone?). Miss Swanson doing a Charlie Chaplin impression (yes, way before Kamal). Oh, there are so much more in this satiric film noir.

By the way Cecille DeMille appears in this movie, ready on cue for one of the most quotable lines in Hollywood history by Swanson, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.”

If you are not conviced about how good the movie is, just take a gander at this:
http://www.mrqe.com/movies/m100033468

For bites of the film's crackling dialogue
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014/quotes

Venki,
I suggest you don’t watch this on your laptop/pc. You got to get a proper DVD and watch it on TV screen at least, with your living room lights off. There is something about idam, porul, eval about appreciating good films

[Nerd]

Grouch bro, well said. Let me add a couple of points.

There is a sense of emotional emptiness (not sure if its the right term) in this film which I think is the most striking aspect of this film. The humor is very unique, cynical in fact. And how many films can boast of a dead-person-narrative? Another good thing about the movie is the writing - character development especially. I mean the movie is built on the character development and how different characters interact with each other. Each and every character is carefully etched. A textbook-ish film if I may say so. And the last scene in which Norma descends the stair after shooting Gills with her revolver - the way she walks, the camera esra esra - beautiful. The only thing I hated about this movie was the romance sub-plot which spoilt the *mood* for me.

[groucho070]

Nerd, I had no problem with the romance part, its part of character development that you mentioned. As a scriptwriting student, I find this film exemplary as one of the finest writing to come out of Hollywood, athuvum from a German (he fled the country during Hitler's time).

[P_R]

Nerd, it was the romance sub-plot that I found interesting of all things in the film

The first meeting when he rejects his script and he comes back with: "Next time I'll write you the Naked and the Dead".Their collaboration being his way out. But once again he is getting more than what he bargains for and is also in a situation of biting the hand that feeds him. That was very interesting.

I guess the Norma Desmond character put me off completely. Her 'tragedy' was not that interesting beyond a point. So the screenwriter's predicament automatically stopped being interesting and the whole story became laborious.

[equanimus]

And I thought you guys were talking about the Linklater film, Before Sunset (which I haven't seen; nor his earlier film Before Sunrise)... ayyagO, Sunset Boulevard 'kku indha nilaimaiyA!

[P_R]

Equa, neenga sollunga Boulevard 'avvaLo periya thillAlangadi-yA ?'

[equanimus]

Equa, neenga sollunga Boulevard 'avvaLo periya thillAlangadi-yA ?'

Of course! I thought it was wonderful the first time I saw it. But I haven't seen it in a long while. Must revisit soon. Billy Wilder, right up there among the true masters of Hollywood.