In the swift, cynical Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, Burt Lancaster stars as the vicious Broadway gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker.
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One of the smears against Dallas is that he's a Party member. Some work for Hunsecker. The sleazy columnist that ends up running Sidney's article about Dallas. All on the condition that he gets to spend the night with Sidney's pretty friend. Hunsecker wants Dallas to suffer horribly throughout the film, though a lot of this comes from his overprotectiveness of Susie. However, when Dallas gives J. The Dog Bites Back: The cop Falco called fat earlier on gives him a good smack at the end when he is allowed to do so.
Don't do anything I wouldn't do! That gives you a lot of leeway Sidney declines to "match" him at this time. Effectively, Falco to Hunsecker. Susie, as her brother was determined to drive the lover of her life away. The story plays out over the course of less than two days. Hunsecker always speaks calmly and politely, especially to Susie and Steve.
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Neither of them are fooled. Susie by the end. Falco manages to keep Susan from jumping off the balcony. Is That a Threat? The senator picks up on J. Why does everything you say sound like a threat? Maybe it's a mannerism, because I don't threaten friends , Harvey. Both Falco and Hunsecker.
After getting beaten up by a corrupt cop, Sidney suddenly has an out-of-character line, "That fat cop can break my bones, but he'll never stop me from telling what I know. One would think of Susan as this for J. However, by the end of the film, it's clear that he is far more focused on his own needs than hers.
My Sister Is Off-Limits! Hunsecker ruins his little sister's boyfriend's life because he doesn't approve of him for her. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Actually pointed out just before the climax.
Sweet Smell of Success
Falco notes that J. No Celebrities Were Harmed: Hunsecker is a thinly-disguished version of the once-powerful gossip columnist and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell.
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The final scene shows Susan leaving her and J. Only Known by Initials: Even his sister calls him that. Falco shows off to Herbie Temple by making a fake call to his secretary pretending to be speaking to J. Susie's highly-symbolic fur coat. She is never seen without it until the final scene of the film where she wears a more modest wool coat to signify that J.
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Falco is given quite a few throughout the film out of reproach for his deviousness. Falco, let it be said at once, is a man of forty faces, not one. None too pretty and all deceptive. You see that grin?
That's the, uh, that's the charming street-urchin face. It's part of his helpless act. He throws himself upon your mercy. He's got a half-dozen faces for the ladies. But the one I like, the really cute one, is the quick, dependable chap - nothing he won't do for you in a pinch. Falco, whom I did not invite to sit at this table tonight, is a hungry press agent and fully up to all the tricks of his very slimy trade.
Additionally, Steve Dallas gives a severe one to Hunsecker, which ends up having severe consequences. Because I don't like the way you toy with people? Cellist Fred Katz and drummer Chico Hamilton , who briefly appear in the film as themselves, wrote a score for the movie, which was ultimately rejected in favor of one by Elmer Bernstein. Mackendrick shot the film in late , and was scared the entire time because Hecht-Hill-Lancaster had a reputation for firing their directors for any or even no reason at all.
Mackendrick and composer Elmer Bernstein both found Lancaster difficult to work with, with Bernstein later recalling, "Burt was really scary. He was a dangerous guy. He had a short fuse". Assisted by cinematographer James Wong Howe , Mackendrick intentionally filmed scenes with JJ from a low angle using a wide-angle lens and with overhead lighting directly above Lancaster, so that the spectacle frames cast shadows on his face.
Exteriors were shot in the busiest, noisiest areas with crowds of young Tony Curtis fans occasionally breaking through police barriers. The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Elmer Bernstein , but the picture also featured jazz themes performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet, and two soundtrack albums were released on the Decca label in Both provide a moody backdrop to the cynical showbiz drama and intersect at several key points through the use of a common theme, the tune 'Goodbye Baby'.
More specifically about Bernstein's music, he wrote of the film score composer employing "richly dissonant big band sonorities and nocturnal urban blues in his score, and much of his music has the hard-edged, gritty sound that was associated with big city life in the s. Hamilton's exploratory improvisations and Bernstein's studio orchestrations make this a highly sophisticated film score". Walters called the soundtrack "the sonic equivalent of a well-mixed Manhattan: A preview screening of Sweet Smell of Success was poorly received, as Tony Curtis fans were expecting him to play one of his typical nice guy roles and instead were presented with the scheming Sidney Falco.
Mackendrick remembered seeing audience members "curling up, crossing their arms and legs, recoiling from the screen in disgust". We're going to lose over a million dollars on this picture,'" Hill recalled. He said, 'You didn't have to leave — you could have made this a much better picture. I ought to beat you up. Time magazine said the movie was "raised to considerable dramatic heights by intense acting, taut direction The film's critical reputation increased in subsequent decades.
David Denby in New York magazine later called it "the most acrid, and the best" of all New York movies because it captured, "better than any film I know the atmosphere of Times Square and big-city journalism". In , it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In , Sweet Smell of Success: In its " Years Hunsecker number 35 of the top 50 movie villains of all time in Filmmaker Barry Levinson paid tribute to Sweet Smell of Success in his film Diner , with one character wandering around saying nothing but lines from the film. Criminal Intent episode "Contract" is an homage to the film, with Mo Rocca playing a gossip columnist who is clearly based on J.
The release includes new audio commentary featuring film scholar James Naremore , Mackendrick: Cinematographer , a documentary about the film's director of photography, featuring lighting tutorials with Howe, a new video interview with film critic and historian Neal Gabler Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity about legendary columnist Walter Winchell, inspiration for the character J. Hunsecker, and a new video interview with filmmaker James Mangold about Mackendrick, his instructor and mentor.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the film. For the stage musical, see Sweet Smell of Success musical. The Elmer Bernstein Orchestra featuring: Retrieved April 16, Archived from the original on April 14, Retrieved June 17, Retrieved August 11, Decca Album Discography, Part 4: Retrieved April 7, O March 15, The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, Retrieved February 7, Retrieved December 13, Archived from the original on June 28, The films of Alexander Mackendrick.
Sweet Smell of Success - Wikipedia
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