Watched Sunset Boulevard in an open-air theatre last night. At the very end when Gloria Swanson comes down the stairs and looks into the camera during her last speech, I fought tears, but more I think because the moment was the culmination of a work of such perfect craftsmanship.... I was getting emotional over that, the overwhelming brilliance of the film, the knockout blow of that brilliance coming with its final moment, this wild look of Swanson into the camera.
For about a decade I've kind of neglected the old classics, and now that I'm revisiting them, I find myself so taken aback by their intelligence and beauty, by the wit and eloquence of the scripts in comparison to current movie fare, that when the credits roll I'm often battling tears...