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Sweet Smell of Success
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Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster sit at a restaurant table in a black-and-white publicity still from the film Sweet Smell of Success, with Curtis looking at Lancaster, who holds a cigarette.
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Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster sit at a restaurant table in a black-and-white publicity still from the film Sweet Smell of Success, with Curtis looking at Lancaster, who holds a cigarette.
Sweet Smell of Success Tony Curtis (left) and Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), directed by Alexander Mackendrick.

Sweet Smell of Success

film by Mackendrick [1957]
Written by
Lee Pfeiffer
Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. His book The Essential Bond: An Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (written with...
Lee Pfeiffer
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Sweet Smell of Success, American film noir, released in 1957, that was praised for its intensity, intelligent dialogue, and searing look at corruption in big-city journalism. Burt Lancaster played J.J. Hunsecker, a ruthless Broadway columnist (based on Walter Winchell) who delights in destroying his enemies’ careers. Desperate to curry his favour, the publicist Sidney Falco (played by Tony Curtis) agrees to help Hunsecker break up the relationship between the columnist’s sister and a jazz musician....

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