Sweet Smell of Success [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Sweet Smell of Success [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Director: Alexander Mackendrick Cast: Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
, Susan Harrison
Susan Harrison
, Martin Milner
Martin Milner
Alexander Mackendrick
Sweet Smell of Success [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Sweet Smell of Success [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Director: Alexander Mackendrick Cast: Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
, Susan Harrison
Susan Harrison
, Martin Milner
Martin Milner
Alexander Mackendrick

DVD (Black & White / Wide Screen)

$39.99 
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Overview

Ernest Lehman drew upon his experiences as a Broadway press agent to write the devastating a clef short story "Tell Me About Tomorrow." This in turn was adapted by Lehman and Clifford Odets into the sharp-edged, penetrating feature film Sweet Smell of Success. Burt Lancaster stars as J. J. Hunsecker, a Walter Winchell-style columnist who wields his power like a club, steamrolling friends and enemies alike. Tony Curtis co-stars as Sidney Falco, a sycophantic press agent who'd sell his grandmother to get an item into Hunsecker's popular newspaper column. Hunsecker enlists Falco's aid in ruining the reputation of jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Martin Milner), who has had the temerity to court Hunsecker's sister Susan (Susan Harrison). Falco contrives to plant marijuana on Dallas, then summons corrupt, sadistic NYPD officer Harry Kello (Emile Meyer), who owes Hunsecker several favors, to arrest the innocent singer. The real Walter Winchell, no longer as powerful as he'd been in the 1940s but still a man to be reckoned with, went after Ernest Lehman with both barrels upon the release of Sweet Smell of Success. Winchell was not so much offended by the unflattering portrait of himself as by the dredging up of an unpleasant domestic incident from his past. While Success was not a success at the box office, it is now regarded as a model of street-smart cinematic cynicism. The electric performances of the stars are matched by the taut direction of Alex MacKendrick, the driving jazz score of Elmer Bernstein, and the evocative nocturnal camerawork of James Wong Howe.

Product Details

Release Date: 02/22/2011
UPC: 0715515068017
Original Release: 1957
Rating: NR
Source: Criterion Collection
Region Code: 1
Presentation: [B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound: [Dolby Digital Mono]
Language: English
Time: 1:36:00
Sales rank: 18,684

Special Features

Disc One: New Audio Commentary featuring Film Scholar James Naremore; Original Theatrical Trailer; ; Disc Two: The Supplements; Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away, a 1986 Documentary featuring Interviews with Director Alexander Mackendrick, Actor Burt Lancaster, Producer James Hill; James Wong Howe: Cinematographer, a 1973 Documentary about the Oscar-winning Director of Photography, featuring lighting tutorials with Howe; New Video Interview with film critic and Historian Neal Gabler (Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity) about legendary columnist Walter Winchell, inspiration for the character J.J. Hunsecker; ; New Video Interview with Filmmaker James Mangold about Mackendrick, his Instructor and Mentor; ; Plus: a Booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins, notes about the film and two short stories introducing its characters by Screenwriter Ernest Lehman, and an excerpt about Clifford Odets from Mackendrick's book On Fillm-Making, introduced by the book's editor, Paul Cronin

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Burt Lancaster J.J. Hunsecker
Tony Curtis Sidney Falco
Susan Harrison Susan Hunsecker
Martin Milner Steve Dallas
Sam Levene D'Angelo
Barbara Nichols Rita
Jeff Donnell Sally
Joseph Leon Robard
Edith Atwater Mary
Emile Meyer Kello
Joe Frisco Herbie Temple
David White Elwell
Lawrence Dobkin Leo Bartha
Lurene Tuttle Mrs. Bartha
Queenie Smith Mildred Tam
Autumn Russell Linda
Jay Adler Manny Davis
Lewis Charles Al Evans
Chico Hamilton Himself
Emile G. Meyer Harry Kello
Elmer Bernstein Composer

Technical Credits
Alexander Mackendrick Director
Clifford Odets Screenwriter
Ernest Lehman Screenwriter
James Hill Producer
Harold Hecht Executive Producer
Jack Solomon Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Sweet Smell Of Success
1. "Sweet Smell Of Success" [2:10]
2. "I'm No Hero" [5:11]
3. "Maybe You Lied To Me" [2:27]
4. "You're Always Snooping Around" [3:31]
5. "Were You 'Interviewed'?" [1:47]
6. "The First Real Man" [3:27]
7. "Match Me, Sidney" [8:04]
8. "Cat's In The Bag" [4:59]
9. "What Is This, Blackmail?" [4:36]
10. "Fine, Fat, Dirty Item" [2:48]
11. "I Don't Do This Sort Of Thing" [5:34]
12. "Play Marbles With His Eyeballs" [1:57]
13. "Occasional Beaux Gestes" [3:23]
14. "No Fish Today" [3:21]
15. "A Smear" [4:48]
16. "We're Drifting Apart" [3:07]
17. "Integrity Acute" [2:54]
18. "In Moral Twilight" [7:53]
19. "Handle The Boy" [3:48]
20. "I Can't Change" [3:41]
21. "All The Marbles" [5:45]
22. "Going Down With The Ship" [4:46]
23. "You're Growing Up" [6:28]
1. "Irresistibly Quotable" [2:10]
2. "Mosca The Fly" [5:11]
3. "A Self-Created Scoundrel" [2:27]
4. "Overshadowed By The Other Players" [3:31]
5. "The Chief Reporter" [1:47]
6. "A Dangerous Subject" [3:27]
7. "Rewrote And Rewrote And Rewrote" [8:04]
8. "Stylized, Stagy Language" [4:59]
9. "Sidney's Public Humiliations" [4:36]
10. "A Smarmy Fellow" [2:48]
11. "Obeying The Production Code" [5:34]
12. "Signifiers Of Taste" [1:57]
13. "McCarthy-Style Manipulation" [3:23]
14. "A Moment Of Success" [3:21]
15. "On A Downslide" [4:48]
16. "Physical Embodiment Of Violence" [3:07]
17. "The Climactic Break" [2:54]
18. "Battle About Masculinity" [7:53]
19. "Risking Their Stardom" [3:48]
20. "Correspondence To Real-Life Events" [3:41]
21. "Explicitly Noirlike" [5:45]
22. "Full Of Beat Changes" [4:46]
23. "The Real Drama Of The Scene" [6:28]
Disc #2 -- Sweet Smell of Success - The Supplements
1. Honest And Direct [2:18]
2. Thinking In Images [2:58]
3. Writing For Film [6:26]
4. Shift To Directing [9:00]
5. Sweet Smell Of Success [9:26]
6. Walking Away [8:12]
7. Calarts [6:14]
1. Introduction [4:52]
2. Working With Light [1:45]
3. Subservent To The Script [2:25]
4. Collaborating With Directors [2:39]
5. Creating A Mood [1:06]
6. Lighting Examples [7:01]
7. Importance Of Experience [1:55]
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