SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957) ****

Tony Curtis stuck himself into a lot of B-roles, as in all those Biblical and Roman epics in which he utters lines like, "O great Tribune, as we retoin' t'da land of ouh faddahs" (leading one reviewer to note that "Curtis will be convincing as a Roman senator when the Gowanus flows into the Tiber"). But he was capable of great work, and he did his best, IMO, in this well-paced, intelligently written movie.

Curtis is Sidney Falco, a smarmy Broadway press agent who, like all his colleagues, is a slave to J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster, modeled on Walter Winchell). Getting in JJ's column makes or breaks press agents, and Sidney is willing to do (almost) anything to win the sadistic JJ's favor. The favor: break up the romance between JJ's neurotic younger sister (Susan Harrison) and a clean-cut jazz musician (Marty Milner) who is on JJ's s-list.
Clifford Odets, not the most subtle writer, did the screenplay, and it's broad in parts. But it has some razor-sharp dialog that underscores the sleazyness of the business and the complex, humiliating relationships among Sidney, JJ and the press agents and politicians who cross paths in NYC. Lancaster is forceful as ever. The excellent cast includes Emile Meyer, Eternal Eastern European Thug, as a crooked NYC police detective who ultimately does the dirty work for JJ. The score by Elmer Bernstein is wonderful, and the cinematography, by the all-time great James Wong Howe, puts you right into the heart of Times Square. "I love this filthy town," says JJ, walking out of a nightclub onto West 53rd Street, and you believe him. The sites are all real-life authentic. The opening scene, with Sidney gulping a pina colada at either Elpine's or Benedict's (two long-defunct hot dog/tropical drink joints in Times Square) was wonderfully nostalgic for me.
Always worth watching.