Directed by:
Alexander MackendrickCinematography:
James Wong HoweComposer:
Elmer BernsteinCast:
Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Jeff Donnell, Sam Levene, Joe Frisco, Barbara Nichols, Emile Meyer, Lawrence Dobkin, John Fiedler (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
In the swift, cynical Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, Burt Lancaster stars as the vicious Broadway gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco, the unprincipled press agent Hunsecker ropes into smearing the up-and-coming jazz musician romancing his beloved sister. Featuring deliciously unsavory dialogue, in an acid, brilliantly structured script by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, and noirish neon cityscapes from Oscar-winning cinematographer James Wong Howe, Sweet Smell of Success is a cracklingly cruel dispatch from the kill-or-be-killed wilds of 1950s Manhattan. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (1)
A cruel film with cruel characters. It's as if there isn't even one character here that is genuinely kind. And if one does appear, the society of others crushes them. Burt Lancaster is unbeatable in the role of J. J. Hunsecker, and he literally sends shivers down your spine, even though he mostly speaks calmly. But what he says is chilling. A very chilling film that pays homage to the brilliant era of film noir gems.
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