Yes, even a Tearjerker film set in the
Crapsack World of Hollywood has its share of awesome moments.
- Gloria Swanson gets one for her performance as Norma Desmond, particularly the scene in which she returns to Paramount and is recognized by her old friend. The crowd gathers around her, and her reaction is... stunningly well acted, so much so that it is likely to leave the viewer in tears. And that was before the final scene.
- When the film was screened to a select audience of Hollywood stars, many of them were overwhelmed by Swanson's performance. Barbara Stanwyck bent down and kissed the hem of Swanson's dress.
- Most of Norma's one-liners fall into this thanks to Gloria Swanson's supreme acting backing them up.
- "We didn't need dialogues, we had faces."
- "I can say anything I want with my eyes."
- "I am 'big'. It's the PICTURES that got 'small'" could easily come across as a Badass Boast if you sympathize with Norma's plight.
- At least 20 years had passed since Norma last got to be in a motion picture, yet Norma shows several times that she hasn't lost her touch at all. Just look at the picture above. Plus she also imitated a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty during one of her "live shows" and did a Charlie Chaplin Tramp performance.
- Max's Undying Loyalty to Norma and his willingness to do whatever it takes to keep Norma from finding out the truth.
- Joe managing to get the courage to stand up to Norma and go for his own beliefs. Even though this doesn't last long and Norma manages to convince Joe to hang out with her again, it's nice to see a previous victim grow a backbone.
- Then towards the end, he tries to snap Norma out of her trance again by exposing everything that recently happened.
Norma: You heard [Max], (whispering) I'm a star.
Joe: Norma, you're a woman of 50, now grow up! There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25!
Norma: (whispering) I'm the greatest star of them all.
Joe: (grabs his suitcase and leaves) Goodbye, Norma.
- Also, when Norma ends up shooting Joe as he tries to leave, pay attention to how Joe reacts. He knew Norma was running behind him and had a gun with her, and didn't even try to run or take cover after getting shot the first time. He knew he was destined for more unpleasant things to happen and embraced it. Talk about facing death with dignity.
- Cecil B. DeMille gets one where he realizes how much Norma had missed working with him on the studio, and tries to cancel the separate film that was using Norma's car. Earlier, Norma was getting several phone calls for what she thought was her getting to do another film in the studio. DeMille didn't want to crush her hopes and was willing to throw away his work so Norma would live her dream.
