Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.
Sweet Smell of Success is a razor-sharp noir masterpiece. The plot is a brilliantly constructed web of manipulation, ambition, and moral rot — Lehman and Odets's dialogue crackles with venom and wit at a level rarely matched in Hollywood cinema. Lancaster and Curtis deliver career-best performances: Lancaster as the monstrously imperious Hunsecker and Curtis as the squirming, desperate Falco. James Wong Howe's deep-contrast, location-shot cinematography of nocturnal Manhattan is among the finest black-and-white work in American film history — genuinely exceptional. Novelty is equally high: the film's corrosive cynicism, its near-total absence of sympathetic leads, and its fusion of urban realism with noir stylization give it a singular voice. The ending, while morally satisfying in a blunt sense, is comparatively abrupt and conventional for a film this sophisticated — the one category where it settles for adequacy rather than greatness.