Success of ‘Sweet’ Is Its Tart Bite

There’s nothing sweet about “Sweet Smell of Success.” It’s a tart, bitter look at ambition.

Tony Curtis gives one of the strongest performances of his career as Sidney Falco, a slimy, hustling publicist willing to do almost anything for gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), who says of Falco: “I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.”

Lancaster is superb as Hunsecker, a man with “more twists than a barrel of pretzels.” Unscrupulous and manipulative, he ruthlessly wields his power of the word like a sharp sword with no regard for what it strikes, telling Falco: “You’re a dead man, Falco; go get yourself buried.”

When his sister becomes involved with a promising musician, Hunsecker, in a manner more that of a jealous lover than of a brother, threatens to freeze Falco out of his column unless he does a host of unpleasant things to break up the romance. As Hunsecker becomes more demanding, Falco must decide whether he wants to be his own man or let Hunsecker’s “dog collar turn into a noose.”

“Sweet Smell of Success,” impeccably written by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman and backed up by Elmer Bernstein’s scathing jazz score, delivers a bark and a bite.

--LISA HOPPER

“The Sweet Smell of Success,” (1957), directed by Alexander Mackendrick, 96 minutes. No rating.