Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Alexander Mackendrick

Writers:

Clifford Odets (screenplay) and
Ernest Lehman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

27 June 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

They know him - and they shiver - the big names of Broadway, Hollywood and Capitol Hill. They know J.J.- the world-famed columnist whose gossip is gospel to sixty million readers! They know the venom that flickers in those eyes behind the glasses - and they fawn - like Sid Falco, the kid who wanted "in" so much, he'd sell out his own girl to stand up there with J.J., sucking in the sweet smell of success! This is J.J.'s story - but not the way he would have liked it told!

Plot:

Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.

Plot Keywords:

Press Agent | Jazz | Musician | Newspaper Columnist | Power

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	J.J. Hunsecker
Tony Curtis	...	Sidney Falco
Susan Harrison	...	Susan Hunsecker
Martin Milner	...	Steve Dallas (as Marty Milner)
Jeff Donnell	...	Sally
Sam Levene	...	Frank D' Angelo
Joe Frisco	...	Herbie Temple
Barbara Nichols	...	Rita
Emile Meyer	...	Lt. Harry Kello
Edith Atwater	...	Mary
The Chico Hamilton Quintet	...	Themselves

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | West Germany:16 (f) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #18585)

Filming Locations:

Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Curtleigh Productions

Trivia:

The narc in the film, Lt Harry Kello, is based on NYPD detective Eddie Egan, immortalized by Gene Hackman as 'Popeye' Doyle in The French Connection (1971).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Microphone shadow during coffee shop scene with Steve and Susan.

Quotes:

J.J. Hunsecker: I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Contract (#7.12)" (2008)

Oh yes.

"I love this dirty town". "Match me, Sidney". "Maybe I left my sense of humour in my other suit". Great dialogue. Great script, great cinematography, great acting, great music. Christ, what do you want, blood? From the first moment we see Burt Lancaster as the impossibly sinister J.J., we know we're in for a cracking time. There he is, sitting at the restaurant table, wearing those strangely scary glasses, his face expressionless (perhaps he's smiling, just a little bit), talking to Sidney without even looking at him, firing the dialogue like bullets. When the action seeps into the New York streets, oozing menace, there's J.J. - master of all he surveys, twisting cops round his little finger, snarling and seething like some desperate animal. And there is something animal about this film: its characters writhe and twist in the lights and the shadows - demented, tortured creatures, all of them trying to maintain some semblance of normality, all of them aware, deep down, how corrupt and helpless they are. The symbols of goodness - J.J.'s sister and her boyfriend - are weak, pathetic, hopeless, unable to keep up with the neverending twists and turns of this awful labyrinth of manipulation and cruelty. Curtis and Lancaster were never better, and it's awesome to see them play such grotesque yet believable roles. How do people get like this? Where do they go from here? Perhaps it's best not to think about it, and just wallow in the brilliant nastiness of it all, before maybe going home and getting in the shower for a long, long time.