SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

(June 1957, U.S.)

When I first saw director Barry Levinson's 1982 debut film DINER, there was a very minor, secondary character who wandered around his friends quoting nothing but lines from SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. At that age, I thought it was just about the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. Today, I'm a little more relaxed about it because, let's face it, I'm a movie geek who can probably quote all of STAR WARS from beginning to end.

The black and white film noir tells the story of a powerful Manhattan newspaper columnist named J.J. Hunsecker (played by Burt Lancaster and based on real life American newspaper and radio gossip commentator Walter Winchell) who uses his powerful connections to destroy his timid sister's (Susan) relationship with a jazz guitarist named Dallas that he deems unworthy of her. He's aided by his personal press agent Sidney Falco (played by Tony Curtis), who is frustrated because he's been unable to gain mentions for his client's in Hunsecker's column due to his failure to keep a promise to break up the romance. Given one last chance by his boss, he schemes to plant a false rumor in a rival column that Dallas is a pot-smoking Communist, then encourages his boss to rescue Dallas's fragile reputation, confident that he'll reject Hunsecker's favor and end up looking bad to Susan. Later, when Susan is forced to choose between her boyfriend and her brother, she chooses Hunsecker in order to protect Dallas from him. Still, a man like J.J. Hunsecker doesn't go down or go away easily. He's enraged when Dallas insults him by telling him what he really thinks of him. He decides to ruin the poor boy after all and demands to have marijuana planted on the musician, then have him arrested and roughed up by corrupt police he keeps very tight in his pocket. This, believe it or not, is where Falco suddenly develops a conscience and refuses to go along with it...well, at least for a very brief moment. When Hunsecker promises to take a very long vacation and turn his powerful column over to Falco in his absence, he quickly changes his tune and his position.

But even a man as disgustingly loyal to a pig like Hunsecker is not shielded from his own dangers against such a powerful man. When Susan attempts to kill herself by throwing herself off of the balcony of her brother's penthouse apartment, Falco is (conveniently) there to stop her, but not before he's discovered in a compromising position with her by Hunsecker when as he's rescuing her. Even as Falco realizes he was set up by Susan to be discovered in such a manner, Falco is unable to explain himself. In a climactic confrontation, Falco reveals to Susan that it was her brother who ordered him to destroy Dallas's reputation and their relationship. Hunsecker makes a call to the police to come after Falco, who tries to flee but is caught in Times Square by the brutal cops. Still, a powerful man like Hunsecker is the loser in the end because Susan walks out on him, revealing that she's going right back to Dallas.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS vividly and visually recalls a time when the influence of the press and hustling power of New York City were a thriving force to be reckoned with. The on-location black and white photography of Manhattan's exteriors are shot at some of its busiest and noisiest areas, particularly at Times Square during rush hour...

One can just feel the thrive of the city that never sleeps and comes alive most at night when it's jazz nightclubs tell their own powerful stories. J.J. Hunsecker is often seen at these clubs sitting at his own table, making deals and deciding other people's lives. One can just feel this time in history when the McCarthy era and those of the press with their own influential columns like Walter Winchell, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons had the power in business and Hollywood to make or breaks people's career's and lives. Burt Lancaster seems to play part of such a prick with perfect ease. He and Tony Curtis are scheming and disgusting, and perhaps that wasn't easy for movie audiences to embrace at the time, given both men were such idols of integrity. But this is what clearly defines dramatic acting, particularly with its intensity and whiplash dialogue. There is a high-tone edge of the city streets that perhaps only the true New Yorker can fully appreciate and understand. The film as a whole reminds us that while it's important to experience it visually, it's also important to sit back and listen...truly listen to the screen in front of us.

Favorite line or dialogue:

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