The Sweet Smell of Success: New York, Night, and Noir
By Alan Herrmann
MOVIE CRITIC
In the late 1950s, the classic film noirs that populated the post-war years were on the decline. There were several culprits, but the main ones were technicolor, wide screens, television, and audience tastes.
People and studios loved the widescreen color films geared toward large scale westerns, adventure epics, and musicals. Studios saw these advances as a way to keep people going to the movies instead of watching television at home.
Many moviegoers were also tired of the dark psychological themes that had infiltrated their psyches since the war ended. They felt going to the movies should be fun and thrilling and could often be a family outing.
But even though they were in decline, noirs were not dead and there were still fans of the genre. One of the finest noirs, The Sweet Smell of Success, was released in 1957 and even broke a few rules.
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, with a screenplay polished by Clifford Odets from Ernest Lehman’s novella, The Sweet Smell of Success is a bleak, cynical, depressing movie about power and corruption.
It is also brilliant.
Burt Lancaster plays J.J. Hunsecker, a viperous Broadway columnist (loosely based on Walter Winchell) who makes and breaks careers with his deadly weapon: a typewriter. His flunky is Sidney Falco, played by Tony Curtis, a sleazy press agent who will go to great lengths to please J.J. by digging up dirt – or inventing it, if need be – on those unwilling to bow down to the unscrupulous columnist.
It may come as a surprise to lovers of the genre that the film has no murderers, femmes fatales, or crime bosses like so many noirs. The fact that the story takes place in the world of Broadway is perhaps another head scratcher. But Lehman gathered his novella material from the time he put in working as a press agent and it certainly rings true.
So why does this rank so high as a film noir? Let’s look at the evidence:
The setting. Most of the film takes place at night, and the gorgeous black and white photography of James Wong Howe shows New York as a wonderous place where we wish to visit but dread not being able to leave. Filmed on location, New York actually is a character in the movie.
The stars. Burt Lancaster was a partner in the production company that made the film and decided he could play the lead. It was a departure from the muscular parts he often played like the title role in The Crimson Pirate or his earlier noir strongman characters. In this film he wears conservative suits, a long overcoat, and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses to emphasize his all-seeing power as J.J. Hunsecker.
When he smiles, which is rare, it is sardonic and chilling. Tony Curtis also took a risk by portraying Sidney Falco. Normally, Curtis played handsome, romantic leads but this character is an insecure opportunist who uses his charm on desperate women and his venom to threaten careers. But Sidney is not as sharp as he thinks he is and he’s panic-stricken when J.J. discovers his potentially career-killing mistakes.
The supporting cast. Many actors in The Sweet Smell of Success were cast in other noirs, some even playing similar characters on TV shows. Barbara Nichols is excellent as the cigarette girl Rita, who Sidney manipulates and forces to entertain a leering client, played so well by David White, you’ll want to shower after watching him.
It’s her best role, but sadly she was typecast as the bleach blonde, buxom party girl for the duration of her career.
Susan Harrison, in her first role at 19, plays J.J.’s younger, delicate sister who’s in love with a jazz musician, Steve Dallas, and yearns to be free of her controlling brother. There is a suffocating closeness to J.J. and Susan’s sibling relationship.
Dallas, portrayed by Martin Milner, who would later become a TV star on Route 66 and Adam-12, does a good job as the principled foil to J.J.’s corrosive operator. Emile Meyer as Lt. Harry Kello is a hulking, brutal, and corrupt cop who enjoys frightening the bejesus out of Sidney with his sadistic laugh.
The music score. Elmer Bernstein’s jazz infused score is pounding and brassy when the film reveals the physical and emotional violence within Hunsecker’s New York empire. The Chico Hamilton Quintet provides modern jazz for the club scenes and quieter moments to counterbalance the hard hitting, recurring main theme. The music is timely but offers atmospheric noir notes.
The dialogue. If there is one thing that stands out among all the great elements that make up this film, it is the briskly paced and razor-sharp dialogue. The script is delivered in a staccato fashion to emphasize the frenzied rhythm of the great metropolis. Lancaster’s Hunsecker delivers some of the best lines in the film, often humiliating his favorite target, Falco. A few of note:
Hunsecker: (holding an unlit cigarette): “Match me, Sidney.”
Hunsecker: (to Sidney): “I’d hate to take a bite out you; you’re a cookie made of arsenic.”
Hunsecker: (to Sidney): “You’re dead son, get yourself buried.”
Hunsecker: (referring to a press agent): “Everybody knows Manny Davis – except Mrs. Manny Davis.”
Hunsecker: (to a waiter): “Take it easy pal, that horseradish isn’t jumping a fence.”
Hunsecker: (inquiring about Steve Dallas): “What’s the boy got that Susie likes?” / Falco in response: “Integrity – acute, like indigestion.”
Here are a few more zingers from other characters:
Falco: “Maybe I left my sense of humor in my other suit.”
Lt. Kello: “Come back, Sidney…I want to chastise you.”
Dallas: “That’s fish four days old. I won’t buy it.”
Dallas: (to Hunsecker about Falco): “Tell me sir: when he dies, do you think he’ll go to the dog and cat heaven?”
It’s stunning to think this film initially died at the box office – too dark for the family outing crowd, I guess. This movie should have won awards for acting, music, cinematography, and writing. But over the years it has gained substantial praise and has earned a special place with fans of film noir worldwide.
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