Sweet Smell of Success

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

a film by Alexander Mackendrick

It was the news of Tony Curtis dead what drove my attention to this movie. All columns coincide in pointing towards his great talent for comedy and his role in this film as his best performance in drama. Pretty early in the film it is evident what the columns are talking about as Tony Curtis seems processed by the ambitious and bold press agent Sydney Falco who serves as the right hand of J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), an almighty and really scary columnist and media celebrity.

The thing I enjoyed the most about the movie were the dialogues which are fast and fluent and full of the 50s lingo. Characters often seem to be wrestling with really well delivered lines that make vibrant this plot full of intricate connections. Burt Lancaster is great at playing this almighty columnist, laking of any moral but rich in powerful connections and with an incestuous obsession for his sister.

Tony Curtis is the emerging character, full of new tricks and energy but willing to jump any moral barrier to get to his objective. He surprised me sometimes as the representation of an evil spirit when he moves around Burt Lancaster and whispers in his ear the latest details of his plot. His presence in the screen is handsome in an unconventional way with a touch of evil and lots of energy. The praise for his work in this film is well deserved as he grants the energy, the ambition and a soul to this character. As a counterpoint to these two giant characters is the two female roles which I found too weak in the chauvinistic aura that surrounds the male characters.

This movie surprised me as a really engaging and stylish film noir. The camera work is superb and delivers some memorable sequences like the ones of the Jazz quintet in the bar or J.J. facing Dallas in the theater where his show is recorded. It has a great rhythm and great dialogues delivered with great acting and memorable lines, "The cat's in a bag and the bag's in a river".