#555: MACKENDRICK, Alexander: Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)

MACKENDRICK, Alexander (United States)

Sweet Smell Of Success [1957]

Spine #555
Blu-ray

In the swift, cynical Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, Burt Lancaster stars as the vicious Broadway gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco, the unprincipled press agent Hunsecker ropes into smearing the up-and-coming jazz musician romancing his beloved sister. Featuring deliciously unsavory dialogue, in an acid, brilliantly structured script by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, and noirish neon cityscapes from Oscar-winning cinematographer James Wong Howe, Sweet Smell of Success is a cracklingly cruel dispatch from the kill-or-be-killed wilds of 1950s Manhattan.

96 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2010

Director/Writers

From the novelette by Ernest Lehman.

Screenplay by Clifford Odets and Lehman.

Alexander Mackendrick was 45 when he directed Sweet Smell of Success.

The Film

Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), a press agent, is pissed. J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) has been shutting his gossip out of his famous newspaper column for days now — all because Falco has somehow failed to break up a relationship between Hunsecker’s sister, Susan (Susan Harrison) and a guitar player in Chico Hamilton’s quintet, Steve Dallas (Martin Milner).

Falco’s secretary, Sally (Jeff Donnell) is trying to be sympathetic to her boss’s problems:

SALLY

Why does Mr. Hunsecker want to squeeze your livelihood away? What do you stand for that kind of treatment for?

SIDNEY

He’s punishing me. His kid sister’s having a romance with some guitar player. He asked me to break it up. I thought I did, but maybe I didn’t. Now I gotta go find out. And Hunsecker’s the golden ladder to the places I wanna get.

SALLY

Sidney, you make a living. Where do you want to get?

SIDNEY

Way up high, Sam, where it’s always balmy. Where no one snaps his fingers and says, “Hey, shrimp, rack the balls” ... or “Hey, mouse, go out and buy me a pack of butts.” I don’t want tips from the kitty. I’m in the big game with the big players. My experience I can give you in a nutshell ... and I didn’t dream it in a dream either: Dog eat dog. In brief, from now on the best of everything is good enough for me.

This early example of the film’s crackling dialogue is typical. Later, Falco and Hunsecker have a conversation after things have turned upside down with the saga of Susie and Steve:

SIDNEY

I got that boy coming over here today.

J. J.

If I can trust my eyes — and I think I can — Susie knows all about your dirty work.

SIDNEY

Can’t hurt.

J. J.

Can’t hurt? I had to get that boy his job back.

SIDNEY

Look, J.J. ... we can tie this off into one neat bundle; address it to the dumps, to oblivion. We’re doing great, but please do it my way. I’ve cased this kid. I know his ins and outs. He’s full of juice and vinegar, just waiting for a big shot like you to put on the squeeze. You got the boy his job back — okay. But he’s not gonna accept your favor. The manager, yeah, but not that boy.

J. J.

What has this boy got that Susie likes?

SIDNEY

Integrity. Acute, like indigestion.

J. J.

What does this mean, “integrity?”

SIDNEY

A pocketful of firecrackers waitin’ for a match. You know, it’s a new wrinkle. To tell you the truth, I never thought I’d make a killing on some guy’s integrity.

J. J.

I’d hate to take a bite out of you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.

At 1:04:30, a scene between five people (Frank D’Angelo [Sam Levene], Steve, Susie, J. J. and Falco); cinematographer James Wong Howe is magnificent here; everyone is perfectly blocked and framed and at one point, Falco and J. J. move and the camera dollies to frame them perfectly.

In the exteriors, gritty Broadway — filmed mostly at night — never looked better.

Howe was one of the greats. He shot his first film, Drums of Fate (1923) at age 24 and his last, Funny Lady (1975) at age 76.

Near the end of the film, Falco is toasting his success:

SIDNEY

Gentlemen, I’m toasting my favorite new perfume. Success.

What’s that we’re smelling?

Film Rating (0-60):

56

The Extras

The Booklet

A 56-page book:

• Chapters, Cast, and Credits
• “The Fantastic Falco,” by Gary Giddins
• Ernest Lehman: Origins of Sweet Smell of Success
• On the Writing of Sweet Smell of Success
• “Hunsecker Fights the World”
• “It’s the Little Things That Count”
• Mackendrick and Odets: From Page to Screen
• “Density and Subplots,” by Paul Cronin
• From On Film-Making by Alexander Mackendrick
• About the Transfer

Commentary

Featuring film scholar James Naremore.

Naremore dives into all the details: the two great leads, who play such disagreeable characters (Curtis’s fans were furious!); the great contributions of Odets, Mackendrick and Howe and the production team. A fabulous commentary.

Documentary 1

From 1986: Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away, featuring interviews with director Mackendrick, actor Lancaster, producer James Hill, and others.

Great feature about Mackendrick’s life and work.

Documentary 2

From 1973: James Wong Howe: Cinematographer, about the Oscar-winning director of photography, featuring lighting tutorials with Howe

Video interview 1

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. J. Hunsecker.

Video interview 2

With filmmaker James Mangold about Mackendrick, his instructor and mentor.

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

35

56 + 35 =

91

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