Sweet Smell of Success Review!

Sweet Smell of Success is simply one of Burt Lancaster's greatest moments in a career filled with them....and oh yeah...Tony Curtis was also absolutely fabulous in this dark meditation on Celebrity and Entertainment journalism, along with the corruption inherent in absolute power. Lancaster plays J.J. Hunsecker, a powerful and influential entertainment/celebrity columnist for a New York newspaper that is the literal toast of the town with press agents like Sidney Falco, played by Tony Curtis, doing "favors" for Lancaster in order to win space in his column for the entertainers they represent. Curtis seems to have been a long time flunkie for Lancaster because it has been several days since Lancaster had mentioned any of Curtis' clients and so Curtis is upset and now ready to sink even lower to appease power mad Lancaster.

Eventually Curtis will stoop to placing false accusations and planting false evidence on an up and coming Jazz musician that has been dating Lancaster's sister. The soft side of Lancaster's character and perhaps the more darker side comes out in his almost incestuous relationship with his younger sister and his complete jealous rage at her dating someone beneath her. Very soon, both Lancaster and Curtis must face the consequences of their single minded pursuit of influence, power, and money.

This film is as dark as any detective noir thriller and uses its pacing and lighting to great affect. The film moves in an almost breakneck speed, never allowing the viewer to catch his breath before the next tragic consequence of Lancaster and Curtis' machinations come to light. I have also never heard better dialogue in a film...crisp and crackling like summer lightning and wickedly funny, spawning the wonderful Lancaster line, "Match me, Sidney" to Tony Curtis. On the one hand, this is a dismissal of Curtis as a mere henchman around only to light Lancaster's smokes, but also a challenge to beat Lancaster at the subtle game they are playing with people's lives and reputations.

Another film from Lancaster's own production company, Sweet Smell, was one of those films which signaled the end of the tightfisted control of the major Studios, at least artistically. Artists who wanted to do socially or politically relevant films often had to beg on hands and knees to Studios who were indifferent to such material, because of its difficulty to market and thus make their money back. Stars like James Cagney and Burt Lancaster were among the pioneers to break out of the studio system to make the films they wanted to make. Sweet Smell of Success helped usher in the modern age of the Independent Film and a new era of artistic freedom of comment.

TH Reviews rating: 5 stars out of 5....highly recommended!