#86: Sweet Smell of Success
Part of the Top 150 Films series
Sweet Smell of Success is such a grimy and oily film on all levels, that its slick look and script can’t help but act as a counterpoint to the dirty dealings and shady shenanigans going on underneath the surface. The film is a perfect synthesis of James Wong Howe’s brilliant cinematography, Elmer Bernstein’s downbeat yet jazzy score, and a cornucopia of amazing performances (especially from the central women: Susan Harrison and Barbra Nicholas). The film’s quotability goes without saying, but the ability of Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets to extract a beating heart from their moral cesspool of a script is the greatest achievement of an exemplary noir. The cat may be in the bag, and that bag may be in the river, but Sweet Smell of Success was made by some very brave people who set out to show humans as they really are, and boy, did they succeed.
