302. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

A firecracker that initially fizzled with audiences but has increasingly crackled with succeeding generations of film lovers, Sweet Smell of Success today boasts a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Defying genre expectations, it has been described in the media as a film noir, a crime thriller, a comedy, a satire, a character study, and a drama. By any measure, this poison pen letter to the glitzy world of big city show business is bracing and entertaining. It features pungent dialogue, a ripping jazz score, balls-out performances from enthusiastically unlikeable characters played by Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, and top-notch location work in 1950s New York City strikingly shot in black and white. Can our panel of young film-lovers relate to this bygone world of martini-drinking, cigarette-smoking, woman-exploiting men on the make? Or will the not-so-sweet smell drive them away? Hosts: Mark Netter & David Tausik Panelists: Guy Lewis & Kylee LaRue An ElectraCast Production   Added to National Film Registry in 1993 IMDb with restored trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051036/reference/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Smell_of_Success Original Variety Review: https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/sweet-smell-of-success-2-1200418251/ Roger Ebert Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-sweet-smell-of-success-1957#google_vignette Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices