1957 - 96 minutes - Film Noir/Drama
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Country: United States
IMDB: 8.1
Metacritic: 100
RT: 98%
CinemaChagrin's Rating: A
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| Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success |
Watch this movie if you enjoy:
- Fast-paced, sharp, and witty dialogue
- Gorgeous black and white cinematography
- Film noir
- New York City
- Vicious and sleazy lead characters
- "Unhappy" endings
- New York City
- Womanizers
"You're dead son. Get yourself buried." - J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster)
Sweet Smell of Success is quite the unusual entry into the film noir genre. True, it does take place in a dark and dangerous city (Manhattan) mostly at night and the male leads are womanizers who smoke a lot and talk fast. However, unlike most film noirs, Sweet Smell of Success has no femme fatale, hard-boiled detective, or narration-driven story. Instead, it relies on some of the best dialogue ever put to film (including what seems to be a never-ending stream of exquisite one-liners), incredibly strong acting across the board, and excellent black and white cinematography that showcases the streets of Manhattan in a caliginous fashion.
Burt Lancaster plays J.J. Hunsecker, New York City's most [in]famous newspaper columnist and one of the most chilling and convincing villains in cinematic history. Tony Curtis (in an early role of his) plays Sidney Falco, a sleazy and ambitious press agent working for Hunsecker that will stop at nothing to get ahead. When Hunsecker orders Falco to orchestrate the breakup of his younger sister's relationship with a budding jazz musician, the press agent resorts to lying, blackmail, and bribing to achieve his objective, all the while hoping that his connections with Hunsecker will secure him a newspaper column of his own one day.
Both Lancaster and Curtis put on strong and completely convincing performances as two figures of Manhattan's darker side. Although they steal the show throughout the film, all of the supporting characters are excellent as well, especially Hunsecker's tender younger sister (played by Susan Harrison), who suffers under her older brother's oppressive obsession with controlling her life.
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| Sidney Falco (Curtis) spies on Susan Hunsecker (Harrison) and her lover, Steve Dallas (Martin Milner) |
Though well-acted and wonderfully shot, the real strong point of the film is the dialogue itself. Written by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, the script moves along at a brisk pace, with characters conversing and screaming at a hundred miles an hour. The one-liners are almost too numerous to count and extremely memorable: ("Watch me run a 50-yard dash with my legs cut off!", "Maybe I left my sense of humor in my other suit", "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic").
Though Sweet Smell of Success was a flop at the box office when first released, it is now generally regarded as a cult-classic and a masterpiece of film noir. The film looks and sounds great from beginning to end, and Hunsecker and Falco are two of the most memorable characters ever to appear on film. The script is on par with (and arguably stronger than) other 1950s writing juggernauts like Sunset Blvd and All About Eve, and easily as entertaining. Sweet Smell of Success is a dark and uncompromising look at post-WWII New York City, and exceptionally well-crafted. Highly recommended.
-CC
Check out the Criterion Collection's 3 Reasons for watching Sweet Smell of Success:
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