The Final Scene

Joe! Joe!

Come on in

What's going on, Joe?

Why am I so scared?

What was that woman saying?

She sounded so weird

I don't understand

Please, can you tell me what's happening?

You said you loved me tonight

Shall I just go?

Say something, Joe

Have some pink champagne and caviar

When you go visit with a star

The hospitality is stellar

So this is where you're living?[JOE]

Yes, it's quite a place, sleeps seventeen

Eight sunken tubs, a movie screen

A bowling alley in the cellar

I didn't come to see a house, Joe

Sunset Boulevard

Cruise the Boulevard

Win yourself a Hollywood palazzo

Sunset Boulevard

Mythic Boulevard

Valentino danced on that terrazzo

Who's it belong to?

Just look around you

That's Norma Desmond

Right on the money

That's Norma Desmond

That's Norma Desmond

That's Norma Desmond

That's Norma Desmond[BETTY]

Why did she call me?

Give you three guesses

It's the oldest story in the book

Come see the taker being took

The world is full of Joes and Normas

Older woman, very well-to-do

Meets younger man, the standard cue

For two mechanical performers

Just pack your things and let's go

You mean all my things?

Have you gone mad?

Leave all these things I've never had?

Leave this luxurious existence?

You want me to face that one-room hell

That Murphy bed, that rancid smell

Go back to living on subsistence?It's no time to begin a new life

Now I've finally made a perfect landing

I'm afraid there's no room for a wife

Not unless she's uniquely understanding

You should go back to Artie and marry the fool

And you'll always be welcome to swim in my pool

I can't look at you any more, Joe

(BETTY leaves)

Thank you. Thank you, Joe! Thank you! Thank you! What are you doing, Joe? You're not leaving me?

Yes, I am, Norma

You can't! Max!

It's been a bundle of laughs

And thanks for the use of the trinkets

A little ritzy for the copy desk back in Dayton

And there's something you ought to know

I want to do you this favor

They'll never shoot that hopeless script of yours

They only wanted your car

That's a lie! They still want me!

What about all my fan-mail?

It's Max who writes you letters

Your audience has vanished

They left when you weren't looking

Nothing's wrong with being fifty

Unless you're acting twenty

I am the greatest star of them all

Goodbye, Norma

No one ever leaves a star

And as dawn breaks over the murder house, Norma Desmond, famed star of yesteryear, is in a state of complete mental shock

This was dawn -

I don't know why I'm frightened -

Silent music starts to play -

Happy New Year, darling

If you're with me, next year will be -

Next year will be -

They bring in his head on a silver tray

She kisses his mouth

She kisses his mouth

She kisses his mouth -

Mad about the boy -

They'll say Norma's back at last

Madame, the cameras have arrived

Max! Where am I?

This is the staircase of the palace

And they're waiting for your dance

Of course

Now I remember

I was so frightened I might fall

You are the greatest star of all!

Lights! Cameras! Action!

When he scorned me I

Knew he'd have to die

Let me kiss his severed head

Compromise or death

He fought to his last breath

He never had in him to surrender

Just like me, he never could

Surrender

I can't go on with the scene! I'm too happy! May I say a few words, Mister DeMille? I can't tell you how wonderful it is to back in this studio making a picture. I promise you - I will never desert you again. This is my life. It always will be. There's nothing else. Just us. And the cameras. And all you wonderful people, out there in the dark. And now, Mister DeMille, I am ready for my close-up

This time I'm staying

I'm staying for good

I'll be back where I was born to be

With one look I'll be me