Sweet Smell of
Success
Genre: psychological
drama (in black and white)
With: Tony
Curtis (Sidney Falco), Burt Lancaster (J.J. Hunsecker), Susan Harrison (Susan,
J.J.’s sister), Martin Milner (Steve Dallas), Sam Levene (Frank D’Angelo, Steve’s
manager), Barbara Nichols (Rita), Jeff Donnell (Sally, Sidney’s secretary),
Emile G. Meyer (Harry Kello), Joe Frisco (Herbie Temple), David White (Otis
Elwell), Autumn Russell (Linda) and Chico Hamilton
Director: Alexander
Mackendrick
Screenplay: Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman and Alexander
Mackendrick (based on Lehman’s novel)
Release: 1957
Studio: Norma
Productions, Curtleigh Productions et al.
Rating: PG
MBiS score: 8.6/10
A Sweet Smell to
Them but a Stench to Most of Us
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Story-line: Sidney Falco, an ambitious young
publicist, hopes to make it big on Broadway with the support of columnist J.J.
Hunsecker… even though he’ll have to do J.J.’s dirty work to obtain it.
Pluses: a complicated and
well-structured screenplay that raises serious issues, top-notch direction, scathing
dialogues laced with innuendo. The acting, moreover, is outstanding: Tony Curtis
carries the movie as the despicable Falco, Burt Lancaster shines as a despot
who crushes everything he can’t conquer (‟I love this dirty town”, says
J.J.), Susan Harrison’s decency rises above the dreck and Martin Milner (of Route 66 fame) plays very credibly also.
Minuses:
none really.
Comments: great movies can be noble, symbolic, poetic or weighty… but this one
distinguishes itself by its unflinching depiction of a sordid little world.
Don’t expect much daintiness from Falco and Hunsecker…these infuriating fellows
are thoroughly blinded by notoriety. I’ve read somewhere that J.J.’s character
is partly based on Walter Winchell (1897-1972), the influential gossip columnist who
famously said ‟I usually get my stuff from people who promised
somebody else that they would keep it a secret.”
Fortunately for us, there’s nothing secret about SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. Pass the word…
MBiS
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