Mackendrick and composer Elmer Bernstein both found Lancaster intimidating, with Bernstein later recalling, "Burt was really scary. Mary Grant designed the costumes. Hamilton's exploratory improvisations and Bernstein's studio orchestrations make this a highly sophisticated film score". (1957). Cheek To Chico [previewing track] 2:11 : 3. Sweet smell of success! He therefore covertly employs Sidney Falco, a sleazy and unscrupulous press agent, to break up the affair by any means possible. [21] Time and the New York Herald included the film on their ten-best lists for films released in 1957. The Sweet Smell of Success is a quest found in Spiritfarer. To swing him round, Hunsecker dangles three months of writing his column while J.J. takes Susan to Europe to forget about Steve. [16], The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Elmer Bernstein, but the picture also featured jazz themes performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Legal secretary who quit her job to become an Avon Lady selling cosmetics with her husband earns £125,000-a-year. Hunsecker then calls Kello and deems Dallas innocent and Falco guilty of planting evidence. The festivities are interrupted when Falco is summoned to Hunsecker's penthouse apartment, where he finds a nighgowned Susan about to jump off the balcony. [11], Tony Curtis had to fight for the role of Sidney Falco because Universal, the studio to which he was contracted, was worried that it would ruin his career. This FAQ is empty. because the editor of the magazine did not want the word "smell" in the publication. Livid, Falco reveals to Susan that her brother conspired to frame Dallas. The director recalled, "We started shooting with no final script at all, while Clifford reconstructed the thing from stem to stern". [43], This article is about the film. Explore {{searchView.params.phrase}} by color family {{familyColorButtonText(colorFamily.name)}} seven different perfume bottles - sweet smell of success stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images . [10] The plot was largely intact, but in Mackendrick's biography he is quoted from Notes on Sweet Smell of Success: "What Clifford did, in effect, was dismantle the structure of every single sequence in order to rebuild situations and relationships that were much more complex, had much greater tension and more dramatic energy". Sweet Smell of Success is a musical created by Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia, and John Guare. SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS Critical analysis of “The Sweet Smell of Success Isn’t All That Sweet” By: Maggie Yi A00631572 Instructor: Karyn Huenemann Use a serif font (the same font) for the entire paper Oct. 15, 2012 Edwards, D., Callahan, M., Eyries, P., Watts, R., & Neely, T. Sweet Smell of Success – Best of the Epic Years, "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress", "Hikari Takano Interviews | Robert Vaughn Interview Transcript - Open Source Transcripts - Robert Vaughn Interview Transcript Ro | hikaritakano.com", Decca Album Discography, Part 4: Main 12-inch 8000 Series (1949-1960), "Another Bite From That Cookie Full of Arsenic", "Bogdanovich's Hearst Bests Welles', But Ensemble Is Missing Altman", "Librarian Announces National Film Registry Selections", "Why Sweet Smell of Success Went Sour on Stage", "Sweet Smell of Success Ends Broadway Run June 15", "From Mr. Chips To Scarface: The 10 Essential Films For Any Fan Of 'Breaking Bad, "The Best Movies of All Time (10,059 Most Notable)", "Film Features: 100 Greatest Movies of All Time", "Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time", "100 All-Time Greatest Movies, by Entertainment Weekly (2013)", "CITY LORE; The Bittersweet Smell of the Broadway of Yore", Chico Hamilton Quintet featuring Buddy Collette, Chico Hamilton Trio Introducing Freddie Gambrell, The Chico Hamilton Quintet with Strings Attached, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sweet_Smell_of_Success&oldid=1016563834, United States National Film Registry films, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The Best Movies of All Time (10,059 Most Notable), 100 Greatest Movies of All Time (Second Edition), "Hot Dogs and Juice (Goodbye Baby)" (Chico Hamilton, Fred Katz) - 2:29, "Hunsecker Operates (Goodbye Baby)" (Hamilton, Katz) - 1:33, "Goodbye Baby Blues" (Hamilton, Katz) - 3:34, "Love Scene (Susan - The Sage)" (Hamilton, Katz) - 3:37, "Concerto of Jazz Themes from the Soundtrack of "Sweet Smell of Success"" - 16:31, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions (Australia), This page was last edited on 7 April 2021, at 20:57. A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus. A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. [19], Soundtrack: The release includes new audio commentary featuring film scholar James Naremore, Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away, a 1986 documentary produced by Scottish Television featuring interviews with director Alexander Mackendrick, actor Burt Lancaster, producer James Hill, and others. He flips her outrage by claiming he is doing it to help her career. In return for a failed promise the bullying Hunsecker offers Falco the opportunity to make good by breaking the couple up. Mackendrick remembered, "We started shooting in Times Square at rush hour, and we had high-powered actors and a camera crane and police help and all the rest of it, but we didn’t have any script. [18] In a 2008 review for The Guardian, John L. Walters called the soundtrack compilation "the sonic equivalent of a well-mixed Manhattan: seven cool cues by drummer Chico Hamilton's adventurous band, and 14 orchestral blasts by Elmer Bernstein". Talk to Larry in Nordsee Pier. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Holding Falco's feet to the fire, he orders the shill to plant marijuana on Dallas then have him arrested and roughed up by corrupt police lieutenant Harry Kello,[4] a move so dirty even Falco recoils from it. In a murder trial, the defendant says he suffered temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. All you perfume and beauty products at affordable prices. The shadowy noir cinematography filmed on location in New York City was shot by James Wong Howe. "Sweet Smell of Success", 1957 has some very strong and very disturbing performances by not just Lancaster and Curtis but lots of others. Initially, the director had reservations about trying to film such a dialogue-heavy screenplay, so he and Lehman worked on it for weeks to make it more cinematic. Synopsis The almighty J.J… the columnist with sixty million believers… his wrath is feared by the great and near great who worship the sweet smell of success! In its "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains" list, the American Film Institute (AFI) named J. J. Hunsecker number 35 of the top 50 movie villains of all time in 2003. We knew where we were going vaguely, but that’s all". At the jazz club, Falco slips marijuana cigarettes into the pocket of Dallas's coat. [12] Lehman makes the distinction in an interview that Winchell was the inspiration for the version of the character in the novelette, and that this differs from the character in the film version. Mackendrick assumed that Odets would need only two or three weeks to polish the script, but he took four months. What is the truth, and will he win his case? The overall effect was one of overstimulation and suffocation, given even more … Its New York, of jazzy midtown nightclubs trawled by newspaper columnists fishing for gossip, is … The shadowy noir cinematography filmed on location in New York City was shot by James Wong Howe. the sweet smell of success The euphoric feeling of being successful or victorious. Falco declares that Kello's beating will not stop him from making the whole story public and leaves. [33] In an early scene from Levinson's 1988 movie, Rain Man, Sweet Smell of Success is seen playing on television. Sweet Smell of Success A classic of the late 1950s, this film looks at the string-pulling behind-the-scenes action between desperate press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and the ultimate power broker in that long-ago show-biz Manhattan: gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Drama, Certificate: Passed Use the HTML below. Add the first question. [22] He also believed that Curtis should have gotten an Oscar for his role as Falco. The picture was produced by James Hill of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. The supporting cast features Sam Levene, Barbara Nichols, Joe Frisco, Edith Atwater, David White and Emile Meyer. We Deal With Criticism ® Movies TV Music PS4 XboxOne Switch PC WiiU 3DS PS Vita iOS … Performed by The Chico Hamilton Quintet. An example was the boy friend of his sister Susan, a working young man, devoted to music and strongly in love with Susan, completely discredited by JJ. El Records (ACMEM132CD) Release Date: January 15, 2008. Mackendrick suggested Clifford Odets, the playwright whose reputation as a left-wing hero had been tarnished after he named names before the House Un-American Activities Committee. [21] Burt Lancaster's fans were not thrilled with their idol either, "finding the film too static and talky". As planned, in Dallas and Susan's presence Hunsecker theatrically gets Dallas rehired with a phone call, but Dallas still insults and denounces J.J. for his malignant influence on society. He shot close-ups of the protagonists’ faces with wide-angle lenses and deep focus, so that the background became as much a part of the composition as the faces themselves. I think filming it in black and white adds a stark reality that color wouldn't do. Soundstage 6, Goldwyn Studios, Culver City, California, USA. Since I recently saw the film-noir classic Sweet Smell of Success, I thought I'd read the BFI book version of Sweet Smell Of Success (2010) by critic James Naremore. Forty years later Winchell is mostly forgotten (he died in 1972), but the film lives on- … Assisted by cinematographer James Wong Howe, Mackendrick intentionally filmed scenes with JJ from a low angle using a wide-angle lens and with overhead lighting directly above Lancaster, so that the spectacle frames cast shadows on his face. [16][17] Mackendrick decided to use Lancaster's volatility to work for the character of JJ, asking that Lancaster wear his own browline glasses, which Mackendrick felt gave him the presence of "a scholarly brute". [27] Andrew Sarris in the New York Observer, again in 2002, wrote, "the main incentive to see this movie is its witty, pungent and idiomatic dialogue, such as you never hear on the screen anymore in this age of special-effects illiteracy". A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. Sweet Smell of Success (1957) - Open, Go With The Globe Sweet Smell of Success (1957) - Match Me, Sidney Journalism In The Movies -- Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) From Wings to Parasite, here's a look back at all of the Best Picture Oscar winners in the history of the ceremony. [21] According to Lehman, Lancaster blamed him, claiming that: "Burt threatened me at a party after the preview. Sweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American film noir drama film directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, and Martin Milner, and written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman, and Mackendrick from the novelette by Lehman. [10] This process took time, and the start date for the production could not be delayed. [22], Sweet Smell of Success premiered in New York at Loew's State in Times Square on June 27, 1957. To quote its protagonist, showbiz columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), it’s “a cookie full of arsenic.” It’s cynical, remorseless and ironic. Press freedom is one of the best thing in any democratic society but it may sometimes produce/bring lies used for the advantage of powerful groups and/or circles. [15], Mackendrick shot the film in late 1956, and was scared the entire time because Hecht-Hill-Lancaster had a reputation for firing their directors for any or even no reason at all. Written by A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery. And it’s set to a great jazz soundtrack. Sweet Smell of Success The Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Contract" is an homage to the film, with Mo Rocca playing a gossip columnist who is clearly based on J.J. (in both appearance and attitude) and other characters from the episode quoting the film's lines many times. Sweet Smell Of Success (Trailer 1) SEE ALL TRAILERS. Elmer Bernstein; Track Listing. Certainly JJ was a kind of a sick man, unable to accept any reason from any other person. [3]. J.J. Hunsecker, the most powerful newspaper columnist in New York, is determined to prevent his sister from marrying Steve Dallas, a jazz musician. He will be convinced that you're an actor and ask you to speak to some of his colleagues so they can make you a star. Harold Hecht refused and asked him to start work on another project – adapting Ernest Lehman’s novellette Sweet Smell of Success into a film. Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician. The supporting cast features Sam Levene More From Sweet Smell of Success (re-release) 1:02 44. Goodbye Baby [previewing track] 5:02: 2. Hunsecker arrives to find Falco and Susan in an outwardly compromising position in her bedroom, as Falco begins to suspect that Susan has set him up. View production, box office, & company info. Conducted by Elmer Bernstein. Sweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American FILM NOlR drama film directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, and Martin Milner, and written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman, and Mackendrick from the novelette by Lehman. Lancaster's presence proved to be intimidating for numerous individuals involved with the production; at one point, Lehman had been approached to direct the film, but declined due to his fear of Lancaster, although Hecht maintained that Lehman had never been offered the chance to direct. We had the sweet smell of success in our nostrils, until a last-minute penalty snatched the victory from our fingertips. To do all his work JJ needed snakes (not persons) as Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), who behaved worse than a reptile, always praising JJ although he in fact hated him and creating the intrigues whenever there were necessary. [6] After the project collapsed during pre-production, Mackendrick asked to be released from his commitment. 1. All compositions by Elmer Bernstein except as indicated, Jazz Themes: In the swift, cynical Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick (The Ladykillers), Burt Lancaster (Brute Force, The Leopard) stars as barbaric Broadway gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis (Some Like It Hot, Spartacus) as Sidney Falco, the unprincipled press agent he ropes into smearing the up-and-coming jazz musician romancing his beloved sister. He was a dangerous guy. [25][26] A. O. Scott wrote in March 2002 for The New York Times: "Courtesy of Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets, a high-toned street vernacular that no real New Yorker has ever spoken but that every real New Yorker wishes he could". Susan (The Sage) [previewing track] 2:30: … J.J. Hunsecker, the most powerful newspaper columnist in New York, is determined to prevent his sister from marrying Steve Dallas, a jazz musician. Stopped by J.J., she explains that she indeed had attempted suicide, having considered death preferable to living with him, and that she is leaving to be with Dallas. Hunsecker will then gain points with Susan by defending Dallas and getting his job back, with Falco counting on an overly prideful Dallas rejecting a tainted favor. In spite of this, Hunsecker is so incensed by Dallas's insults - which he twists around to characterize as attacks on his loyal, patriotic audience - that he escalates things. When "The Sweet Smell of Success" was released in 1957, it was seen as a thinly-veiled attack on Walter Winchell, who for decades had been the most famous and reviled gossip columnist in America. I ought to beat you up.' On Sweet Smell of Success, Wong Howe filmed the city backdrops with a long-focus lens, making the buildings look bunched together. It proves too much to resist. [13], Hecht-Hill-Lancaster allowed Mackendrick to familiarize himself with New York City before shooting the movie. Sweet Smell Of Success. [34], 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains -- #35 Villain (J.J. Hunsecker), Sweet Smell of Success was released on DVD (Region 1) and Blu-ray (Region A) as part of The Criterion Collection in February 2011. Talk to Ingrid in Old-Central District. Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate. David Denby in New York magazine later called it "the most acrid, and the best" of all New York movies because it captured, "better than any film I know the atmosphere of Times Square and big-city journalism". Music From. [30] It was not considered a critical or commercial success.[31][32]. David Levene . The titles of episodes two and three from the first season of Breaking Bad — “Cat’s In The Bag … ” and “. [14], Cellist Fred Katz and drummer Chico Hamilton, who briefly appear in the film as themselves, wrote a score for the movie, which was ultimately rejected in favor of one by Elmer Bernstein. Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, is one of the finest, and darkest, movies ever made about show business. [17], Shooting on location in New York City also added to Mackendrick's anxieties. Falco is losing money and clients, and knows this crucial back-scratch could save his career. Returning to the city that had shunned him for going to Hollywood made Odets very neurotic and obsessed with all kinds of rituals as he worked at a furious pace, with pages often going straight from his typewriter to being shot the same day. And think of the years between 1927, when talkies were born, and 1957, when Sidney Falco flew too close to the Hun and got his wings clipped, as a two-dimensional pyramid: Sweet Smell of Success is the apex, and the dawn of synchronized sound is the base. Forced to choose between them, Susan breaks up with Dallas in order to protect him from her vengeful brother. Instead, the columnist chooses exposure over his journalistic integrity - which even his wife praises as his "first decent act in years". Good price of perfume and more Join my team FREE opportunity He said, 'You didn't have to leave – you could have made this a much better picture. In Nordsee Pier, speak to the first spirit standing closest to the docks. 55 likes. [21] The film was a box office failure, and Hecht blamed his producing partner Hill. Time magazine said the movie was "raised to considerable dramatic heights by intense acting, taut direction ... superb camera work ... and, above all, by its whiplash dialogue". This is 1957 and that world is far, far away from the one we live in today. Filmmaker Barry Levinson paid tribute to Sweet Smell of Success in his 1982 film Diner, with one character wandering around saying nothing but lines from the film. " novelettes" by the brilliant Ernest Lehman. And The Bag’s In The River” — are a direct quote from Sweet Smell of Success, which has been described by the show's creator, Vince Gilligan, as his all-time favorite movie. The book is divided into six sections. [28], In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In the swift, cynical Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, Burt Lancaster stars as the vicious Broadway gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco, the unprincipled press agent Hunsecker ropes into smearing the up-and-coming jazz musician romancing his beloved sister. “Sweet Smell of Success” became notorious for the conflict, crisis and chaos of its production. 0:30 2. It is now highly acclaimed by film critics, particularly for its cinematography and screenplay. [12] Robert Vaughn was signed to a contract with Lancaster's film company and was to have played the Steve Dallas role but was drafted into the Army before he could begin the film. However, she soon starts to have her doubts. Orson Welles was originally considered for the role of J. J. Hunsecker. Faced with potential unemployment from the sale of Ealing Studios to the BBC in 1954, director Alexander Mackendrick began entertaining offers from Hollywood. [12] He took multiple photographs of the city from several fixed points and taped the pictures into a series of panoramas that he stuck on a wall and studied once he got back to Hollywood. Son, I don't relish shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun, so why don't you just shuffle along? "The night of the preview, Harold said to me, 'You know you've wrecked our company? Falco then celebrates at a bar where, surrounded by his industry pals, he toasts to his "new perfume, the sweet smell of success". Falco then bribes a second columnist with a sexual favor to be provided by a cigarette girl he has a friendly relationship with, misleading her into waiting for him in his bedroom only to arrive with the columnist - a new low, even for Falco. The excellent plot shows how someone arrogant, selfish, good writing and talking as J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) was able to use various factors in the society he did his work in order to destroy any enemy, any adversary or any person whom he did not like at all. [8] After scouting locations, Lehman was told by Hecht that distributor United Artists was having second thoughts about going with a first-time director, so Hecht offered the film to Mackendrick. Sweet Smell of Success boasts a top-notch cast, sharp direction, atmospheric cinematography, and an appropriately jazzy score, making it one of the best noir crime thrillers ever made. Certificate: Passed Sweet Smell of Success Lyrics: You've got to be the one / Smile of porcelain / Bullet holes in your tongue / Plexiglass bones / Dough of angel's breath / The eyes of a mannequin / … Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. He was born to have adversaries and not friends. [9] As the script neared completion, Lehman became ill and had to resign from the picture. The picture was produced by James Hill of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. The lies get printed and Dallas' jazz group is fired from the club. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames. Sidney hopes to plant a rumor in a rival column that Dallas is a marijuana-smoking Communist, enough to get him fired from the jazz club where his combo plays. [7], Lehman’s story had originally appeared in the April, 1950 issue of Cosmopolitan, renamed "Tell Me About It Tomorrow!" All compositions by Chico Hamiliton and Fred Katz, On Soundtrack (tracks 2, 10, 11 & 13) and Jazz Themes, A preview screening of Sweet Smell of Success was poorly received, as Tony Curtis fans were expecting him to play one of his typical nice guy roles and instead were presented with the scheming Sidney Falco. Browse 1,099 sweet smell of success stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. 8 of 8 people found this review helpful. Sweet Smell of Success (1957) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. He had a short fuse". [29], In 2002, Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical was created by Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia and John Guare. Lehman forged a screenwriting career in Hollywood, writing Executive Suite, Sabrina, North by Northwest, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The King and I, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.[8]. The first, Roman a Clef, is a discussion of Ernest Lehman's novella from which the screenplay was adapted. To get his dirt planted, Falco plans to blackmail a prominent columnist by threatening to expose his marital infidelity. United Artists wanted Burt Lancaster in the role because of his box office appeal and his successful pairing with Curtis on Trapeze. We're going to lose over a million dollars on this picture,'" Hill recalled. Sweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American film noir drama film directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, and Martin Milner, and written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman, and Mackendrick from the novelette by Lehman. [24], Sweet Smell of Success holds a 98% "fresh" rating based on 45 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and a 100 metascore rating based on 5 reviews at Metacritic. Very good film and probably a lesson, the acting was also excellent, particularly of Lancaster as a tough columnist JJ and Tony Curtis as a low ethic man. It’s Time to Critique the Critics (Guest Blog), Initials and Last Names (Movie Characters), United Artists 100th Anniversary Poll Part II. [5] He rejected potential contracts from Cary Grant and David Selznick and signed with independent production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, enticed by their offer to adapt George Bernard Shaw’s play The Devil's Disciple. Two soundtrack albums were released on the Decca label in 1958 and were later compiled onto one CD. Exteriors were shot in the busiest, noisiest areas with crowds of young Tony Curtis fans occasionally breaking through police barriers. Crime. [4] Falco stops her, then lectures her and calls her childish. Hunsecker is overly protective of his younger sister Susan, and seeks to derail her romance with up-and-coming jazz guitarist Steve Dallas.[4]. Mackendrick said, "So we cut the script there on the floor, with the actors, just cutting down lines, making them more spare – what Clifford would have done himself, really, had there been time". More specifically about Bernstein's music, he wrote of the film score composer employing "richly dissonant big band sonorities and nocturnal urban blues in his score, and much of his music has the hard-edged, gritty sound that was associated with big city life in the 1950s. It was a critical and commercial failure. [12] Tired of doing pretty-boy roles and wanting to prove that he could act, Curtis got his way. A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating. The show is based on the 1957 movie of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1955 novelette of the same name by Ernest Lehman. For the stage musical, see. [20] In a retrospective review, Allmusic's Blair Sanderson noted, "The soundtrack to Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 motion picture Sweet Smell of Success combines orchestral music by the versatile Elmer Bernstein and modern jazz by the Chico Hamilton Quintet, including numbers performed in the film's club scenes. That is why this film was called in some Latin American countries "A Damn Lie". Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins. By the time Hecht-Hill-Lancaster acquired Success, Lehman was in position to not only adapt his own novelette but also produce and direct the film. . Both provide a moody backdrop to the cynical showbiz drama and intersect at several key points through the use of a common theme, the tune 'Goodbye Baby'." In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Sweet Smell of Success, released in 1957, shows its age only on its gleaming surface. The musical score was arranged and conducted by Elmer Bernstein and the film also features jazz performances by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. Probably more famous for writing and adapting his novelette "Sweet Smell Of Success" for the film of the same name, Lehman was also a screenwriter known for such films as NORTH BY NORTHWEST, SABRINA, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? '"[21], Although he and Hecht would fire Mackendrick off of The Devil's Disciple for the same painstaking (and costly) approach, Lancaster was quoted as saying that he felt Mackendrick had done a fantastic job for Sweet Smell of Success and that it wasn't his fault the film lost money. Bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel the script, but his past up... Track of everything you watch ; tell your friends the project collapsed pre-production! 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