In my teen years, I traded in my star crushes on Michael J. Fox, Corey Haim and Mackenzie Astin for James Dean, Laurence Olivier and William Holden. Two of those three actors were from the Midwest and a favorite character portrayed by one was from Ohio. Joe Gillis, the cynical struggling screenwriter that narrates Sunset Boulevard, is not a heroic figure but an incredibly flawed individual whose story ends before it even begins. As the voice-over begins to explain how he ended up face-down in a swimming pool in Hollywood, we learn of the despair that initiated the events that led to his demise:“As I drove back into town I added up my prospects and they added up to exactly zero. Apparently I just didn’t have what it takes. The time had come to wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home. Maybe if I hawked all my junk there’d be enough for a bus ticket back to Ohio. Back to that $35 a week job behind the copy desk at the Dayton Evening Post if it was still open. Back to the smirking delight of the whole office. ‘Alright you wise guys, why don’t you go out and take a crack at Hollywood.’”
Perhaps he should have packed it all in and headed back to Ohio but he stays and continues to pursue his dream. It certainly doesn't end happily but one never knows how things will pan out until they try (even if it's done through slightly less than honorable means).
