What a movie. It's all but a noir, yet bullets never bit so deep as the lines in this script, "You're dead, son. Get yourself buried." If you like your films dark, The Sweet Smell of Success is pitch black, get yourself a copy, son.
Another component to the film is James Wong Howe's great B&W photography, much of it shot on location at night that gives the film an authentic feel of what NYC looked like in the late 1950s.
The New York City shown here is merciless and was an inspiration to countless later films about the cities underbelly, such as “Midnight Cowboy” and “Taxi Driver”. Not to be missed, “Sweet Smell of Success”, is noir par excellence.
Glad to see you finally got around to this one. Its my second favorite movie of all time, just after The Wild Bunch. Would love to hear your opinion on that one as well. Love what you do, keep it up.
Since you mentioned both movies, both Sweet Smell of Success and Ace in the Hole flopped in the box office, back in the day: anything spoiling the illusion of the American Dream of the 1950s did, as it seems...
Just watched this with a friend last night. I love film noir, and I’ve heard this considered noir, but I don’t see this discussed as much. Also, does anyone know the origin of Hunsecker’s quip: “2+2 and you have a chicken in a pot.” Was he purposely mixing expressions? I know there was that Herbert Hoover thing “a chicken in every pot,” but I didn’t get what he was trying to say to Falco. Great video!
thank you. Yes, for about two years, I've had the 5-film Criteiron collection of Cassavetes sitting on my shelf, ready to be worked on. I would say I'll get to it in the next two years almsot for sure.
On a rewatch it didn’t hold up. The Iago characterization of Burt Lancaster-what’s it all about, what does say? It’s just abstract. George Saunders’ Addison DeWitt in All About Eve is a real character, while Burt Lancaster’s character is just an idea, the same as his sister and her lover are just ideas. This innocent couple is a bit similar to the step-daughter and her boyfriend in Double Indemnity, but they have a bit more reality to them, as created and directed by Wilder and Chandler and Cain.
very interesting, the more things change, the more they stay the same ... still gossipers and mud-slingers, just now a 1,000 variations of each in their own social media bubbles. i was looking up the movie 'how to succeed in business without really trying the other day' - that one not really the media angle, but just the cut-throat 1950s business angles... the business of america is yet business, it would seem
Dallas has "integrity." JJ would rather have his sister with a blood sucking leech with some power he could wield perhaps? I've pondered on this script a lot and like The Godfather there is always something new to discover. Epic writing. There is even a clip from this film in the movie Free Enterprise. I'll let the individual take it upon themselves to see how it fits in.
