Greatest Movies Ever Made Series ---- Sweet Smell of Success

Sweet Smell of Success.

















Why do certain movies effect you in a profound way?
Why do certain movies age to become great and some others stale?
Can you put a finger on it and tell..this is what I like?


Even though, dialogues,story and acting, comes to my mind when
I think about this or any movie, I don't think they are the
only reasons.A great movie comes from the perfect storm
of situations,but, then again,I would also argue that a movie
is a very much a personal vision of the director.Both are true.

In the case of Sweet Smell of Success, I believe it is the perfect
storm.A unique story, a unique setting, sharp dialogues,
Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis,lack of big budget. Sometimes,
low budget movies gotta be creative to avoid the costs of
cranes and big studio sets.

JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) is the hot shot news paper column
writer who can make or break any man's life.
Sidney Falco (Tony curtis) is the psychopant whose bread
earner is the gossip he provides to the JJ's column.

Now, both the men has no morals, no shame, no guilt or any other
things which makes them good human beings. They could be suave,
romantic or even sympathetic, but they don't "feel" them, they just
express these learned emotions to conquer their object of desire.
Their only object of desire is Success,in terms of power and money.
The only emotion they feel for is the "Sweet Smell of Success".

I have met some men like these in real and for me, they are
really boring.For others,they are the charmers,romantic heroes
and alpha males. Some women love these kind of men, going back
again and again to the same person who abused them.Its as if they
are addicted to the pain.When two people with these kind of
personalities meet, they admire each other, but at the same time
they gotta watch their back, as they know that a hungry snake can
eat another snake.

Now, coming back to the story, JJ wants to break up his little sisters
romance and he wants to use Sydney to help him. Thats it. That is
the story. No heroes, no sex, no glamour...just two people screwing
up other peoples lives to climb up the ladder and fuel their own grandiosity.

JJ : What's this boy got that Susie likes?

SIDNEY : Integrity - acute, like indigestion.

JJ : What does that mean - integrity?

SIDNEY : A pocket fulla firecrackers - looking for a match! It's a new wrinkle to tell the truth... I never thought I'd make a killing on some guy's "integrity".

JJ : Full of beans, ain't you? But you know that you'll stand or fall by what you're doing now...

SIDNEY : Calculated risk. Only we happen to know, J.J., that you like me. I'm your star pupil -- I reflect back to you your own talent.

JJ : I wouldn't like to take a bite of you; you're a cookie full of arsenic.


I cut a scene where JJ is first introduced.This scene is unique
in the way it was shot...either the camera angles or the way it
is edited. Mind you, there are better scenes in the film than this
one.I wish I could create a clip with all the great scenes and dialogues
in the movie to make you interested, but I always thought that the
worst thing to do is to make a trailer better than the movie. I also
wish I could write a better review than this one. But, Roger Ebert
is always there for an alternative.

Did you ever try to change topic during conversation to
avoid embarrassment..?





Other Stuff : The main characters in the movie "Wallstreet" were
heavily inspired from JJ and Sydney.
A character in the movie, "Diner"..likes this movie so much that he
remembers by rote all the dialogues.