Tagged: Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success – Tony Curtis’ Dark Pinstripe Suit
Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Vitals
Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco, unscrupulous publicity agent
New York City, Fall 1956
Film: Sweet Smell of Success
Release Date: June 27, 1957
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Costume Designer: Mary Grant
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 100th birthday of prolific actor Tony Curtis.
Born Bernard Schwartz in East Harlem on June 3, 1925, Curtis was inspired by war movies made by his screen heroes Cary Grant and Tyrone Power to join the U.S. Navy, serving aboard a submarine in the Asiatic Fleet through the end of World War II.
Arriving in Hollywood after the war, the rechristened “Anthony Curtis” grew his fandom after memorable bit parts in Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949) and Winchester ’73 (1950). His career grew to being one of the biggest stars of the ’50s, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in The Defiant Ones (1958) and iconic cross-dressing role in Some Like It Hot (1959).
While the latter is one of my favorite movies, my favorite Tony Curtis performance is the shameless Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Alexander Mackendrick’s slick and satirical film noir featuring the whip-fast dialogue of Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman’s screenplay and James Wong Howe’s atmospheric cinematography of New York City during the fabulous fifties. Curtis taps his inner Gemini to convincingly portray all aspects of Falco’s cutthroat ambition, from the wily Manhattan publicist to the subservient PR flack desperate to please the powerful columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster).
Sweet Smell of Success – Tony Curtis’ Striped Flannel Suit
Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Vitals
Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco, unscrupulous publicity agent
New York City, Fall 1956
Film: Sweet Smell of Success
Release Date: June 27, 1957
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Costume Designer: Mary Grant
Background
Happy birthday to Tony Curtis, born 93 years ago today on June 3, 1925. The actor will always hold a special place for me as one of my earliest brushes with a known celebrity.
It occurred in the summer of 1998, during a vacation with my family to Las Vegas. We were approaching the exit to the MGM Grand as we came face-to-face with another entourage striding through the entrance. Flanked by two tall, voluptuous blondes at the front of the formation was a tuxedoed man with messy gray hair, considerably energetic for his age.
“That was Tony Curtis!” my family began murmuring to each other. Being only 9 years old at the time, I was concerned about feeling left out of the gossip until my grandma leaned in and explained to me that this was “Josephine” from Some Like It Hot, one of our favorite movies to watch together at the time.
Some Like It Hot will always have a place on my personal cinematic Mount Rushmore, but my favorite Tony Curtis performance is likely in Alexander Mackendrick’s atmospheric 1957 noir Sweet Smell of Success. Curtis stars as a Manhattan publicity agent oozing with opportunistic sleaze.
Sweet Smell of Success – J.J.’s Dark Birdseye Suit
Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Vitals
Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker, powerful and domineering newspaper columnist
New York City, Fall 1956
Film: Sweet Smell of Success
Release Date: June 27, 1957
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Costume Designer: Mary Grant
Background
In commemoration of Burt Lancaster’s birthday today, I’m exploring my favorite of his films, the atmospheric 1957 noir Sweet Smell of Success that starred Lancaster as acerbic columnist J.J. Hunsecker to Tony Curtis’ unscrupulous PR flack Sidney Falco.
J.J. Hunsecker is a man whose legendary power and mercurial temper is meant to intimidate nearly all in his orbit. Continue reading
Sweet Smell of Success – J.J.’s Flannel Suit
Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker in a colorized photo from Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Vitals
Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker, powerful and domineering newspaper columnist
New York City, Fall 1956
Film: Sweet Smell of Success
Release Date: June 27, 1957
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Costume Designer: Mary Grant
Background
One of my favorite movies is Sweet Smell of Success, the atmospheric film noir starring Burt Lancaster as a Walter Winchell-like columnist and Tony Curtis as the opportunistic young PR flack desperate to get in good with him.
Ernest Lehman, who contributed to the screenplay based on his own novelette, declined to direct the film due to his fear of Lancaster, but the actor’s aggressive and volatile temperament paid off to create the needed aura of his intimidating character, the sort of man who could and would destroy an enemy’s career on a whim. Continue reading