Critic Reviews
Sweet Smell of Success (1957) Rank 4 Reviews
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based on (33) reviews
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Reviews by Score:
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The two men in "The Sweet Smell of Success" relate to each other like junkyard dogs. One is dominant, and the other is a whipped cur, circling hungrily, his tail between his legs, hoping for a scrap after the big dog has dined. The dynamic between a ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)
New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Its pleasures are almost obscenely abundant. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Dallas Morning News (Chris Vognar)
A lean, mean amorality tale that still goes down like a cookie laced with arsenic. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Dallas Morning News (Chris Vognar)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)
Captures the sleazy allure of Manhattan like no other film. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)
Movie Parables (Michael Elliott)
Three Movie Buffs (Patrick Nash)
Filled with beautiful black and white cinematography of New York City at night during the 1950's, particularly the neon blaze of Time's Square, Sweet Smell of Success is groundbreaking in its depiction of completely ruthless characters who will do ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Three Movie Buffs (Patrick Nash)
Empire Magazine (--)
Drag a lung-full of Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 hymn to Manhattan sleaze and you can almost taste the city. As J.J. Hunsecker, gossip columnist and proto-shock jock remarks: "I love this dirty town". The irony is that Mackendrick, the Scottish director ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Empire Magazine (--)
Movie Reviews UK (--)
A sour but compelling study of naked greed on the streets of Manhattan, Sweet Smell of Success excels in its script, photography and performances. On the so-late-it's-early streets of the city, press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) grabs a copy of the ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Movie Reviews UK (--)
Lawrence Russell's Film Court (Lawrence Russell)
When he tracks down Hunsecker (Lancaster) holding court in the 21 Club, he bears bad news from The Elysian Room, the club owned by his Uncle Frank. But first he has to gain an audience, so he phones Hunsecker's table from the lobby. But Hunsecker is ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Lawrence Russell's Film Court (Lawrence Russell)
Time Out (--)
A film noir from the Ealing funny man? But Mackendrick's involvement with cosy British humour was always less innocent than it looked: remember the anti-social wit of The Man in the White Suit, or the cruel cynicism of The Ladykillers? Sweet Smell of ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Time Out (--)
Sydney Morning Herald (--)
One of the most celebrated moments in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) has Burt Lancaster standing on a Manhattan footpath while blissfully inhaling the petrol fumes. Throwing back his head, he declares: "I love this dirty town." It's as if he's been taking ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Sydney Morning Herald (--)
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Loose, sleazy, brilliant and hyper-cool. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
DVDBeaver.com (Ole Kofoed)
Mackendrick's deliciously dark take on the malicious underbelly of Broadway PR, and the grubby columns which fuel the human need for gossip, remains one of the sharpest and corrosively perceptive films to emerge from Hollywood.
The film revolves ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at DVDBeaver.com (Ole Kofoed)
Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)
In this, one of the most cynical of Hollywood films, Tony Curtis plays Sidney Falco, the scum of the earth, "a man of 40 faces, not one, none too pretty, and all deceptive": he's a press agent. His job is to convince gossip columnists to run a precious ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)
The Lumière Reader
"THE CHARACTERS of Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 Manhattan melodrama look as if they'd melt if exposed to sunlight," remarks Dave Kehr. What's most interesting is the way the film appropriates the mechanics of noir without a single crime taking place. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at The Lumière Reader
Guardian/Observer
Burt Lancaster stars as a ruthless newspaper columnist who hires smarmy press agent, Tony Curtis, to destroy his kid sister's relationship with a musician. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Guardian/Observer
filmcritic.com Smells Success
Astonishingly good look at a thinly-veiled Walter Winchell, the New York gossip columnist who reigned with terror as one of the most influential writers of his time. Lancaster burns up the screen as J.J. Hunsecker, who enlists Curtis's Sidney Falco to ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at filmcritic.com Smells Success
filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
"Sweet Smell of Success" was a commercial and critical failure when first released. It wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards. It nearly ruined the career of director Alexander MacKendrick. But over time, the film has acquired a reputation. With its ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
Greatest Films - comprehensive analysis of classic US films
Sweet Smell of Success (1957) is an ascerbic, dynamic and intense film that exposes the diseased under-side of New York City's glamorous night life, revealing brutality, capriciousness, greed, evil, psychological violence, corrupt American ambition, ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Greatest Films - comprehensive analysis of classic US films
MovieMartyr.com
Sweet Smell of Success, one of the best and last true film noir works, is one of the greatest of all films. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at MovieMartyr.com
Crazy for Cinema
Never in my life have I watched a film that centered on two more reprehensible characters than those played by Lancaster and Curtis. They star as New York press men, J.J. Hunsecker and Sidney Falco. The former is the most feared gossip columnist in the ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Crazy for Cinema
Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review
Although a print would have to wear down severely to spoil James Wong Howe's shiny, street-wet black-and-white cinematography, the source material looks almost new, with only a scattering of scratches to reveal its true age. There are also some great ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review
Images Movie Journal
Told through the medium of the dark career of one "Sidney Falco" (Tony Curtis), a slimy publicity man who's an expert in what another character in the film calls, "the theology of making a fast buck," Sweet Smell of Success documents the last years of ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Images Movie Journal
eFilmCritic Reviews
Burt Lancaster plays J.J. Hunsecker, a powerful man whose words reach an audience of 60 million people. He is rich and famous, but he is not happy. His sister is in love with a jazz musician, and he is unwilling to lose her to anyone. So, he calls on ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at eFilmCritic Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Ealing's Scottish director Alexander MacKendrick ("Man in the White Suit-1951"/"The Ladykillers-1955"), noted for his comedy films, makes his first American film a lyrical acerbic film noir that is primarily a bitter character study of two despicable men ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
Still remarkably pungent. ...read the complete Sweet Smell of Success movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
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