The Sweet Smell Of Success [1957]

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
A classic of the late 1950s, Sweet Smell of Success looks at the string-pulling behind-the-scenes action between desperate press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and the ultimate power broker in that long-ago show-biz Manhattan: gossip columnist JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Written by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets (who based the Hunsecker character on the similarly brutal and power-mad Walter Winchell), the film follows Falco's attempts to promote a client through Hunsecker's column--until he is forced to make a deal with the devil and help Hunsecker ruin a jazz musician who has the nerve to date Hunsecker's sister. Director Alexander MacKendrick and cinematographer James Wong Howe, shooting on location mostly at night, capture this New York demimonde in silky black and white, in which neon and shadows share a scarily symbiotic relationship--a near-match for the poisonous give-and-take between the edgy Curtis and the dismissive Lancaster. --Marshall Fine

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Synopsis
A newspaperman sets out to break up his sister's marriage.

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2000-05-24 rating:
A magisterial portrayal of the seamy underbelly of US societ
'Sweet Smell of Success'? I doubt it. More like the rancid stench of social climbing and the perversion of good intent. The movie boasts an intensely stylised dialogue, with wonderful performances from Burt Lancaster as JJ Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis as a Hunsecker wannabe. Lancaster is positively reptilian as the all-powerful gossip columnist, whilst Curtis, as the furtive go-getter Sidney attempts to ingratiate himself by despoiling possibly the only loving relationship in the movie, between that of Hunsecker's sister and her jazz guitarist boyfriend. The noirish cinematography and the inspired direction by Brit Alexander MacKendrick, combined with the waspish and highly ornate dialogue make for a potent piece of cinema. The plot twists and the skewed ending of the movie make this a rivetting masterpiece that lingers long after the final credits roll. The sort of film where almost all of the characters have no redeeming qualities, 'Sweet Smell...' is nonetheless one of the truly great movies of the nineteen-fifties.

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Similar categories

Video . Video . Categories . Classic Films . Drama . 1950s
Video . Video . Categories . Classic Films . Directors . MacKendrick, Alexander
Video . Video . Categories . Drama . General
Video . Video . Refinements . Condition (condition-type)
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Drama
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Classics . Drama
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . PG
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1950 - 1959
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . English
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . VHS

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