Saturday, February 12, 2022
Sweet Smell of Success
- Commentary: This is a hard driving movie in which, in one way or another, all the characters are smarmy except for the one primary female character who gets belted by everyone's smarm and deals with it by leaving the vicinity of the smarminess, while the viewer, me, of course, hails her endurance and her strength. I suspect, when this movie was made, the point of it was to highlight all this smarminess, but, viewing it over half a century after its release, it is Susan's endurance which stays with me. Her brother J.J., her brother's "henchman" Falco, they are all so much spoiled meat against Susan's incorruptibility.
Roger Ebert, by the way, christened this as a Great Movie. I have mixed feelings about this designation. Certainly, the acting and directing qualify, but, I don't know, the story, hmmm, well, I'll have to think about it, maybe watch it again.
Still under Construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Burt Lancaster J. J. Hunsecker Tony Curtis Sidney Falco Susan Harrison Susan Hunsecker Martin Milner Steve Dallas
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1957
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick.
Labels: burt-lancaster, Criterion3, dramaE, film-noir1, journalism, melodramaC
