Barbara Nichols, Burt Lancaster, Edith Atwater

J.J. Hunsecker, a powerful New York newspaper columnist, is dead set against his sister's marrying a jazz musician. Sidney Falco, a sleazy PR man, will do anything to get publicity for his clients, an...( read more  read more... )d he sees Hunsecker's situation as an opportunity to win the writer's favor. So, he sets out to break up the affair anyway he can.

Flixster Users

92% liked it

4,836 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

41 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick

Release Date: June 27, 1957

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: June 19, 2001

Stats: 333 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (333)


  • July 14, 2009
    Great Noir that doesn't involve guns or P.I.'s. An emotional an mental battle of the wits.
  • July 12, 2008
    the title of this film is the complete irony of it. tony curtis was brilliant as sidney falco... and burt lancaster helped him along. usually i find lancaster a tad annoying but he did his one dimensional role here pretty well. it's sidney (curtis) that is the interesting party h...( read more)ere. he's the PR from hell who's having doubts about his way of life. can he continue blindy hurting people? or will the trouble he causes for J.J. as his yes man eventually get him into trouble with his conscence and the people who surround him? one of the best oldies i've seen along with the apartment. the dialogue is masterly. success or downfall? well done alexander mackendrick whoever ya be
  • July 12, 2008
    This pitch black hearted noir was something of a flop on its release, and it's not difficult to see why. Not through lack of quality, but rather the fact that its unrelenting cynicism and bleak outlook is certainly not for the faint hearted. Tony Curtis turns in easily his best p...( read more)erformance as Sidney Falco, an obsequious press agent who is perfectly willing to sell his soul to get on top, and Burt Lancaster is similarly superb, brilliantly cast against type as a cold-hearted tyrant (even describing an attack on his character as an attack on his country, the cry of despots throughout the ages) who controls all around him through contemptible manipulation. The core of the film is the creepily ambiguous relationship between he and his sister; at one point he refers to her "apron strings", an allusion to motherhood, but he also keeps a portrait on his desk as one would a spouse or lover... It is unusual in that instead of fists and bullets, all the damage is done through words and insinuations; the razor sharp dialogue is amongst the best ever written for the screen, and the magnificent photography represents the city streets as blackly as the protagonists' hearts. The package is completed by a soundtrack of fantastic contemporary jazz and the overall result is one of the pinnacles of film noir.
  • November 12, 2006
    For as great as this movie is, watching in can be quite a daunting task. Not the feel-good hit of the summer, but it is good.
  • November 24, 2009
    I take a small amount of points away for the "moral" route taken at the end, not that there's anything inherently wrong with it, everybody likes watching people get what's coming to them, but sometimes that's not how it works. But nothing takes away from the story as a whole.
  • August 13, 2009
    A solid noir flick that delivers in the final act. Burt Lancaster is the star attraction here. Quite honestly, I wasn't too thrilled with every scene he was abscent from. But, overall, I like noir and this is classic stuff. Mackendrick makes some interesting cinematography choice...( read more)s. Some people have trouble with how bleak it is. I say it's refreshing to see. A pick-me-up it is not, but a good dialouge charged story it is. It's more twisted than a barrel of pretzels.
  • July 6, 2009
    Sharp and cynical. Curtis and Lancaster are a great pair as two people whose plotting is starting to turn against them.
  • June 5, 2009
    "They know him - and they shiver - the big names of Broadway, Hollywood and Capitol Hill. They know J.J.- the world-famed columnist whose gossip is gospel to sixty million readers! They know the venom that flickers in those eyes behind the glasses - and they fawn - like Sid Fa...( read more)lco, the kid who wanted "in" so much, he'd sell out his own girl to stand up there with J.J., sucking in the sweet smell of success! This is J.J.'s story - but not the way he would have liked it told!"


    J.J. Hunsceker (Burt Lancaster), is a tyrannical Broadway columnist for the New York Globe who rules his demimonde with the press's power to create or destroy. Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), is the hustling publicist who is consumed by desperate ambition and hates himself because of it;

    he will do anything to gain the admiration of Hunsceker. The film was shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, giving it a grittiness that underscores the class ranking among the characters. In the script by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, Falco's early prediction - "Every dog has its day"
  • April 1, 2009
    Boy over controlling father and business man and Tony falls for the wrong girl. It ends with so much unhappiness. Great
  • March 4, 2009
    Mean people doing mean things without successfully picking themselves up out of the trenches of boredom. Uninteresting.

Critic Reviews


March 15, 2002
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Its pleasures are almost obscenely abundant. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

One of those rare films where you remember the names of the characters because you remember them -- as people, as types, as benchmarks. full review

View more Sweet Smell of Success reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Sweet Smell of Success" !

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Network
    Network (100%)

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Sweet Smell of Su... : Watch Free on TV


Sweet Smell of Success Trivia


  • In what film does J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster)tell Sidney Falco(Tony Curtis): "I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."   Answer »

Movie Quizzes


No quizzes for Sweet Smell of Success. Want to create one?

Video Clips


No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?