Rating: 
Summary: Written in Acid
Review: This is one of the great films of the 1950's. You may recall a scene in Barry Levinson's "Diner" where a character in a poolhall walks around reciting lines from a movie. Well, this is that movie and the lines are worth reciting. "Match me, Sidney." The acting of all involved is wonderful, including Sam Levene and the sadly forgotten Barbara Nichols as the cigarette girl who is used by everyone around her. Lancaster is wonderful as the Walter Winchell-inspired columnist who considers it his god-given right to make or break anyone who crosses his path. This is the film for which Tony Curtis will rightfully be remembered. He is amazing in this as a publicity flack who is ready, willing and able to sell his soul for a mention in Lancaster's column. Jazz fans will want to check out the club scenes: the music is provided by the Chico Hamilton Quintet.
Rating:
Summary: Way ahead of it's Time
Review: This is truly an american classic. While not a box office giant, this film nevertheless continues to be a major influence on today's filmakers. Co-written by Clifford Odetts & Ernest Lehman, this totally character driven plot takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride through the dark recesses of 1950's Manhatten, where a single word, or even a whisper could make or break you. For those of you that think of Tony Curtis as a lightweight, think again! Here, he dilivers a performance worthy of the title "Star" Burt Lancaster dilivers equal power and even Martin Milner (Route 66) has his say. By all means, add "The Sweet Smell of Success" to your film collection
Rating:
Summary: "MATCH me, Sidney!" "Not just now, JJ."
Review: This late 50's show-biz noir makes recent, silmilar forays ("Swimming With Sharks", "The Player","The Last Big Thing","Celebrity", et al)look like goofy teen comedies. An unrelenting gaze at the paranoiac,glad-handing and back-stabbing cult of celebrity. Burt Lancaster (who also co-produced) turns in one of his most chilling performances as the NYC gossip columnist who can make 'em and break 'em, and Tony Curtis' portrayal of a sycophantic weasel press agent is so oily you can almost taste the Vitalis in his hair.The film has a host of memorable supporting players--corrupt cops, cigarette girls,struggling nightclub performers, sleazy politicans,barflys and other typical inhabitants of the "noir" canon.There are so many quotable lines that you might as well put quotation marks at the beginning and the end of the script! (In fact,if you happen to catch the 1982 film "Diner", look fast for the cameo by the character who is so obsessed with "Sweet Smell.." that he has it memorized, and walks in and out of scenes spouting lines from it!) This is the sort of cynical, unapologetic portrayal of American culture that usually comes from European directors; it's amazing that this was a U.S. production, released when the McCarthy hearings were still recent history! Don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: "MATCH me, Sidney!" "Not just now, JJ."
Review: This late 50's show-biz noir makes recent, silmilar forays ("Swimming With Sharks", "The Player","The Last Big Thing","Celebrity", et al)look like goofy teen comedies. An unrelenting gaze at the paranoiac,glad-handing and back-stabbing cult of celebrity. Burt Lancaster (who also co-produced) turns in one of his most chilling performances as the NYC gossip columnist who can make 'em and break 'em, and Tony Curtis' portrayal of a sycophantic weasel press agent is so oily you can almost taste the Vitalis in his hair.The film has a host of memorable supporting players--corrupt cops, cigarette girls,struggling nightclub performers, sleazy politicans,barflys and other typical inhabitants of the "noir" canon.There are so many quotable lines that you might as well put quotation marks at the beginning and the end of the script! (In fact,if you happen to catch the 1982 film "Diner", look fast for the cameo by the character who is so obsessed with "Sweet Smell.." that he has it memorized, and walks in and out of scenes spouting lines from it!) This is the sort of cynical, unapologetic portrayal of American culture that usually comes from European directors; it's amazing that this was a U.S. production, released when the McCarthy hearings were still recent history! Don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC NOIR
Review: This movie all by itself made me forgive Tony Curtis any cinematic sins he may have committed before and after. He is completely Sidney Falco. The movie's edgy, near-explosive tension is all Sidney. Burt Lancaster plays a soft-voiced psychotic who always seemed in danger of an explosive break. Sidney and he are meant to be entwined. James Wong Howe's cinematography in moody black and white is superb. For this movie, color would be wrong, wrong, wrong. This is one of the few movies that doesn't make a misstep. SSOS has to have been a lodestone for Scorese. I can't recall seeing split shots previous to this (could be wrong here.) See it, it's a gem.
Rating: 
Summary: Great acting, shooting, and script marred by one actress.
Review: Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster are extraordinary here, and the Elmer Bernstein score excellently punctuates the sleaze and harshness of the story. The screenplay is hardhitting and full of memorable lines (it is the script that the character in the pool hall in "Diner" has memorized from beginning to end.). The one reservation I have----and it is a strong reservation---is that the actress playing J.J. Hunsecker's (Burt Lancaster) sister was terrible. She looked appropriately pampered, but her mousiness did not ring true. No woman living in NYC in those environs could be so annoyingly sappy and feeble.
Rating:
Summary: a truly great classic
Review: tony curtis and burt lancaster both turn in excellent performances in this very well written and very well directed drama/thriller. i happened upon it on tv late one night and was totally hooked. would definitely recommend as one to own
Rating:
Summary: Night Crawlers
Review: Who among the producers of this curdled melodrama could have believed it would make money, especially during the conformist year 1957. It didn't. But it did score with critics, and has since achieved status as a minor masterpiece. Never has the tawdry world of New York show business been so savagely portrayed as in the characters of Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and J. J. Hunseker (Burt Lancaster), schemers with "the scruples of a guinea hen and the morals of a gangster". The machinations fly fast and furious as viewers reach for a score card to keep up. Still it's fascinating stuff. Tony Curtis gets the role he was born to play, a charmingly unscrupulous press agent, and a gutsy departure for this inane matinee idol. The dialogue is first rate with many memorable lines, as the characters bounce off one another like competitors in a demolition derby. Photography is aptly noirish with emphasis on lounge lizard locations. There's a distinct feel to this movie setting it apart from other depictions of New York decadence, a style and mood that linger: the leering cop, the offended wife, the crawling street scenes. Somehow a bunch of Hollywood types got together with a British director, a Chinese-American cameraman, and a couple of New York writers to craft this timeless foray into mid-century America. Don't miss it, especially if you like your lemonade on the sour side.
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