SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (Criterion/eOne, 1957) D: Alexander Mackendrick, w/ Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster. Rating: NNNNN DVD package: NNNNN Rating: NNNNN
The characters are slime, two of the worst human beings you will ever meet on screen.
Vicious, powerful gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) wants to break up his sister’s romance with a jazzman. He gives the task to Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), a small-time Broadway press agent for whom lies, blackmail, scheming and public humiliation are daily fare. Their mutual loathing gave the stars two of their best roles and makes fascinating viewing.
All this and four subplots whip along on playwright Clifford Odets’s smart, stylized dialogue and complex scenes, James Wong Howe’s mix of realistic and noir visuals and director Alexander Mackendrick’s sense of hustle and seamless blend of Broadway exteriors and studio sets.
The extras are as good as it gets, including discussions of Odets’s approach to rewriting and Mackendrick’s theories of film drama that ought to be required reading in film schools. There’s also a lighting seminar from Howe a look at Walter Winchell, the real-life inspiration for Hunsecker a comparison of the movie with The Great Gatsby and lots more.
EXTRAS Commentary, two Mackendrick docs, Howe doc, Winchell doc, essay and short story booklet. Widescreen, b&w. English audio and subtitles.
