A hard-boiled fantasia of 1950's Manhattan, the ironically titled Sweet Smell of Success is one of the most cynically entertaining pictures to come out of old Hollywood. There are no real heroes in the picture, although the character left standing in the final shot may be given bragging rights simply for surviving the perils of the Great Metropolis. But the film works on so many levels that there are more than enough heroes behind the camera to make up for the deliciously appalling behavior of those in front of it. And a generous disc of supplements gives credit where its due to these great craftsmen.
The proof is in the pudding and the pudding in the classic opening sequence: Elmer Bernstein’s blaring, brassy score takes you on a neon tour of a seedy night in Times Square, courtesy of master cinematographer James Wong Howe. While interiors were shot in a studio back in Hollywood, Howe and MacKendrick toured the city for mid-town locations, and they found plenty of dark corners where you could practically smell the rats. There were films shot on location in New York before Sweet Smell, and there were certainly many afterwards. But there may be no more iconic depiction of Gotham City as in the chiaroscuro compositions here.
The plot revolves around press agent Sidney Falco and his sometimes smybiotic but mostly parasitic relationship with gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), a figure based on Walter Winchell. Jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Martin Millner) has the bad fortune to fall for Hunsecker’s daughter Susan (Susan Harrison), and these poor souls are but field mice for the predatory talons of J.J. and Sidney.
Although the film thoroughly demonizes a writer, the writing is first-rate. Ernest Lehman went on to pen the scripts for such classics as North by Northwest, and SSOS is based on his stories. He left the production early, but the dialogue, largely written by Clifford Odets, is some of most colorful you’ll hear in the movies - so much so that the director doubted it would come off. Odets insisted that the overheated dialogue would move the action on screen. And sizzling lines like “The cat’s in the bag and the bag’s in the river!” prove him right with a flurry of consonants that drive the plot as steadily as a Studebaker.
Article comments
1 - James A. Gardner
It's been so long since I've seen SSoS. Your review makes me want to revisit it.
While it's hard to imagine, these days, a newspaper gossip columnist with as much power as the film depicts, if anything, showbiz gossip sites and TV shows have only amplified this sick culture of celebrity. I think Odetts (or whomever) was prescient in bringing this to light.