Sweet Smell of Success

Sweet Smell of Success
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis

The dark, seedy world of 1950s America has provided an array of classic noir films renowned for quick talking, sharply dressed characters and corrupt, dazzling cities full of people wanting to make money by any means necessary. This atmospheric genre is epitomised in Sweet Smell of Success as it examines the dark side of the journalist and the power they have to manipulate people.

Sweet Smell of Success centres on two characters in differing positions of power: J.J. Hunsecker, an influential national columnist, and Sidney Falco, a publicist willing to do anything to make money, including Hunsecker’s dirty work.

Co-written by Ernest Lehman, who went on to write the screenplay for West Side Story and The Sound of Music, the film is filled with witty dialogue and sharp interactions creating humour as well as drama. Having worked as a journalist and a publicist before turning to screenwriting, Lehman’s account of the greed and cut-throat nature of journalism gives the audience a different perspective of the profession. The journalist is not a ‘public watchdog,’ uncovering the truth for the good of the people.

Instead, we are given an insight into the ruthlessness of show business and the worth of being mentioned in a national newspaper column. The need for actors and singers to get noticed by national publications creates the environment for publicists like Falco to do whatever it takes to fulfil promises that can’t be guaranteed.

Although the film was a Box Office disaster, critics have praised the film’s superb camera work and New York vernacular. In 2002 the musical version of the film was created and Time ranked Sweet Smell of Success as one of the “All-Time 100 Movies,” marking it as one of the most significant journalist genre films of the 20th century.