Comments on: Sweet Smell of Success

By: Sweet Smell of Success (1957) | Old Old Films

Sweet Smell of Success (1957) | Old Old Films — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:01:26 +0000

[...] moviezeal.com [...]

By: [review]: Sweet Smell of Success « …yet made of stars

[review]: Sweet Smell of Success « …yet made of stars — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:54:21 +0000

[...] 5, 2009 Cross-posted at: MovieZeal United States, 1957 Directed By: Alexander MacKendrick Written By: Ernest Lehman, Clifford Odets [...]

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:06:55 +0000

Oh God, no, the story was not overblown and pretentious at all: this is one of the greatest American films of the 50’s, a superlative ushering out of the noir genre within the framework of the political paranoia nd hard-edged cynicism of the time (a central point of Luke’s truly great essay)and a wedding of stylistic devices to the definition of an era within sociopolitical parameters. SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS boasts one o fthe greatest screenplays (and dialogue) of any American film, and it remains one of noir’s greatest statements.

By: G

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:29:34 +0000

Yeah, I praised all three of those things in my review. This movie looks and sounds great. But the story was just pretentious and overblown. Both my wife and I kept saying “can this movie just be over already?”

By: Luke Harrington

Luke Harrington — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:07:32 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, Alexander. I fixed it. (Go me!)

G, I’m honestly not sure I liked the movie, either. I’m terrible at following the plots of these things (I reckon I’s just dum), and this was one of the harder ones. It would have been ideal to rewatch it before reviewing it, but I was just out of time. (I’ve been busy moving. Ick.) As it was, what I saw was a well-made film with top-notch lighting, cinematography and music. That was enough to impress me. (But then again, so is anything shiny.)

By: G

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:43:40 +0000

Yeah, I didn’t actually think too much of this film. I mostly thought it took itself too seriously, and didn’t have the chops to carry off its deep Freudo-Shakespearean themes.

But as I mentioned in my review: Lancaster’s reverse mullet=awesome.

By: Alexander Coleman

Alexander Coleman — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:39:31 +0000

This is certainly a great film, such a magnificent screenplay, tremendous cinematography, marvelous acting… The lines of dialogue are so memorably exquisite.

Luke, I don’t know your email address, so I’ll just stay here, I believe you’re missing the word “marry” between “wants to” and “Hunsecker’s sister” in the second-to-last sentence of the second paragraph.

Interesting review. I think of the ’50s as a decade of very fascinating contradictions. People who pigeon-hole it as one way or the other entirely are wrong. This is one of the darkest American films of that decade, though.