Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Tony Curtis plays the slimy self-loathing ambitious press agent Sidney Falco who feeds gossip to the all powerful New York columnist radio & TV media powerhouse – modeled after Walter Winchell – J.J. Hunsecker (AFI’s #35 villain) played ruthlessly by Burt Lancaster. Hunsecker treats Falco and virtually everyone else he encounters including a Senator who is beholden to him like “a poodle” that will “jump through flaming rings” for him or so says Hunsecker’s weak and vulnerable younger sister Susan (played by Susan Harrison); of course Falco will. The columnist who wields his power confidently fearlessly is particularly upset with Falco for not doing him a favor by breaking up his sister’s love for a young up-and-coming musician named Steve Dallas (Martin Milner). Hence he’s cut off the publicity man’s ability to continue to make his living by selling access to his powerful associate’s column. Hunsecker justifies his actions because his warped mind has enabled him to believe that he is the lifeblood of the 60 million people who read his column and that what he does is somehow patriotic (when he’s really a scoundrel). But J.J.’s weakness is his sister; he acts like a father-figure and believes himself to be her protector because she’s really all he’s got. He tries to (surreptitiously through Falco) control her life by crushing anyone (like Dallas) that comes between them and threatens to bring about the lonely miserable life he’d have without her. Falco avoids his own secretary (Jeff Donnell) because she reflects the conscious and self respect that he should have but doesn’t. Sam Levene plays the musician’s agent; Emile Meyer plays a meat-fisted cop who owes Hunsecker a favor. Barbara Nichols plays a pathetic cigarette girl whose misguided love Falco uses to advantage for his own sordid purposes.
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick who’d received his only Oscar recognition for co-writing The Man in the White Suit (1951) the drama was written by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman (Sabrina (1954)). The film was somehow completely and inexplicably snubbed – especially its lead acting and James Wong Howe’s gritty B&W cinematography – by the Academy though it was added to the National Film Registry in 1993.
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