A Few Words About A few words about...™ Sunset Boulevard -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey D]

I thought bumping this old thread would be better than starting a new one for this topic.

I watched Sunset Boulevard the other night for New Year's Eve. I've been a big fan of the film ever since I first saw it, so this isn't a complaint, more of an observation. I do have to spoil to get to my point, but for a 73 year old film, I think the statue of limitations on spoiler brackets has expired. So if for some reason anyone is actually reading this who hasn't seen the movie, you should go watch the movie.

With all that being said:

How did Norma buy a revolver?

She tells Joe that she bought it and seems to be implying it is a new purchase. She has already had multiple suicide attempts before the movie started, which resulted in Max taking all the locks off the doors and removing other things she could use to commit suicide. She has also actually attempted suicide during the events of the film at the point that the revolver is introduced, when she cut her wrists with Joe's razor after he rejected her love. She is clearly threatening to use the revolver on herself here as a means to keep Joe where she wants him. Of course, we know the revolver is ultimately used to kill Joe himself.

Obviously, money is no object, so I'm not questioning how she afforded it. But how would she have gotten it? Max drives her every place that she goes; I doubt she was even able to drive. He is doing everything he can in the movie to keep her alive, and I don't think she could have brought a revolver in there without him knowing about it. He always gives her what she wants without fail, but given his repeated attempts to prevent Norma from self-harm, I can't see him taking her out to buy a revolver or facilitating her getting one. So when did she buy it and where did she get it? It seems like something he would remove it from her access if he knew about it. She never mentions the revolver directly to Max, only to Joe. But it seems to me that there is very little going on in Norma's household that Max is not aware of. So her getting a gun in there and him doing nothing to prevent her from having access to it feels out of character for him.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Great points. These questions about where the gun came from, how Max could have overlooked it, and why didn’t she just use the gun on herself are things I have never thought of about this film. I guess she didn’t shoot herself, maybe because she cut herself for Joe’s attention more than she wanted to die. Thanks, Jake.

 

[Garysb]

I don't know if there were any restrictions on gun purchases in 1950 in California. As Norma had plenty of money perhaps she obtained the gun from someone who came to work at the house. After all she was expecting the monkey funeral director when Joe first showed up, so people did visit the house on occasion. Max was not in the same room as Norma, 24/7. Her old movie friends visited her to play cards. One of them could have provided the gun if she had asked.