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Sweet Smell of Success

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M301434
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VHS | N/A | Slipcase
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Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Additional Information

Additional Information
They know him - and they shiver - the big names of Broadway, Hollywood and Capitol Hill. They know J.J.- the world-famed columnist whose gossip is gospel to sixty million readers! They know the venom that flickers in those eyes behind the glasses - and they fawn - like Sid Falco, the kid who wanted "in" so much, he'd sell out his own girl to stand up there with J.J., sucking in the sweet smell of success! This is J.J.'s story - but not the way he would have liked it told!

This is the story of J.J. - But not the way he wants it told!

The almighty J.J. ...the columnist with sixty million believers ...his wrath is feared by the great and near great who worship the sweet smell of success!

The Motion Picture That Will Never Be Forgiven... Or Forgotten!


Ernest Lehman drew upon his experiences as a Broadway press agent to write the devastating a clef short story "Tell Me About Tomorrow." This in turn was adapted by Lehman and Clifford Odets into the sharp-edged, penetrating feature film Sweet Smell of Success. Burt Lancaster stars as J. J. Hunsecker, a Walter Winchell-style columnist who wields his power like a club, steamrolling friends and enemies alike. Tony Curtis co-stars as Sidney Falco, a sycophantic press agent who'd sell his grandmother to get an item into Hunsecker's popular newspaper column. Hunsecker enlists Falco's aid in ruining the reputation of jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Martin Milner), who has had the temerity to court Hunsecker's sister Susan (Susan Harrison). Falco contrives to plant marijuana on Dallas, then summons corrupt, sadistic NYPD officer Harry Kello (Emile Meyer), who owes Hunsecker several favors, to arrest the innocent singer. The real Walter Winchell, no longer as powerful as he'd been in the 1940s but still a man to be reckoned with, went after Ernest Lehman with both barrels upon the release of Sweet Smell of Success. Winchell was not so much offended by the unflattering portrait of himself as by the dredging up of an unpleasant domestic incident from his past. While Success was not a success at the box office, it is now regarded as a model of street-smart cinematic cynicism. The electric performances of the stars are matched by the taut direction of Alex MacKendrick, the driving jazz score of Elmer Bernstein, and the evocative nocturnal camerawork of James Wong Howe


Sweet Smell of Success is an American film noir/drama film from 1957 made by Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and stars Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison and Martin Milner. The screenplay was written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman and Mackendrick from the novelette by Lehman. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.
The film tells the story of powerful newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (portrayed by Lancaster and clearly based on Walter Winchell) who uses his connections to ruin his sister's relationship with a man he deems inappropriate.
Despite a poorly received preview screening, Sweet Smell of Success has greatly improved in stature over the years. In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical was created by Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia and John Guare in 2002. The next year, the AFI named J.J. Hunsecker number 35 of the top 50 movie villains of all time.


A preview screening of Sweet Smell of Success did not go well, 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".[17] Burt Lancaster's fans were not thrilled with their idol either, "finding the film too static and talky".[17] The film was a box office failure, and Hecht blamed his producing partner Hill. "The night of the preview, Harold said to me, 'You know you've wrecked our company? We're going to lose over a million dollars on this picture,'" Hill recalled.[17] However, Lancaster blamed Lehman, who remembers a confrontation they had: "Burt threatened me at a party after the preview. He said, 'You didn't have to leave – you could have made this a much better picture. I ought to beat you up.' I said, 'Go ahead – I could use the money.'"[17]
Sweet Smell of Success premiered in New York at Loew’s State in Times Square on June 27, 1957.[18] Critical reaction was much more favorable. Time said that the movie was "raised to considerable dramatic heights by intense acting, taut direction ... superb camera work ... and, above all, by its whiplash dialogue".[17] Both it and the New York Herald included the film on their ten-best lists for 1957. The film's reputation improved over time, with David Denby in New York magazine calling 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".[19]
Sweet Smell of Success holds a 98 percent "fresh" rating based on 45 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and a 100 metascore based on 5 reviews at Metacritic.[20][21] Though Mackendrick's direction of the actors and his staging of the scenes are at times extraordinary, in recent years critics have praised only the film's dialogue, "courtesy of Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets, a high-toned street vernacular that no real New Yorker has ever spoken but that every real New Yorker wishes he could", A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times.[22] Andrew Sarris in the New York Observer wrote, "the main incentive to see this movie is its witty, pungent and idiomatic dialogue, such as you never hear on the screen anymore in this age of special-effects illiteracy"


More than half a century after its release, Sweet Smell of Success is commonly listed among the greatest films of all time. In 2012, the movie was ranked #171 on Sight & Sound's list of the top 250 films, as selected by the British Film Institute.[24] The film was among the 400 nominated movies for the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition),[25] AFI's list of the best films in American cinema. In 2008, Empire magazine ranked the film on their list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[26] It was placed on a similar list of 1000 films by The New York Times.[27] In 2010, Total Film selected Sweet Smell of Success as one of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[28] Time magazine ranked the film as one of the All-TIME 100 Movies.[29] The film was 49th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[30] Additionally, Films101.com ranked the film as the 132nd best movie of all time (a list of the 10,059 most notable).[31] In 1993, Sweet Smell of Success was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[32] In 2002, Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical was created by Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia and John Guare.[33] In addition to AFI's naming J. J. Hunsecker number 35 of the top 50 movie villains of all time in 2003, Mackendrick's film has achieved cult film status because of its dialogue.[34] Filmmaker Barry Levinson paid tribute to Sweet Smell of Success in Diner (1982) with one character wandering around saying nothing but lines from the film

Release Date: June 1957

Distrib: United Artists

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