Hello and welcome back to another fabulous Movie and TV Review!!

And what a week it was!

We’re traveling back in time to the classic days of film noir.

The film I’m talking about is none other than Sweet Smell of Success.

I’m talking scandal, gangster mentality, dirty cops, smoky jazz clubs, and young love.

Set amid the jazz culture of the 1950s, we find Sydney Falco, our main antagonist, slowly unraveling as he desperately tries to salvage his latest scheme.

Falco, J.J. Hunsecker’s lackey, is a public relations agent, and he’s currently being punished for failing to keep his end of a bargain.

Susan, J.J.’s younger sister, has found love, and she’s like a dog with a bone.

She won’t let go.

Her chosen suitor?

Steve Dallas, guitarist for the Jazz Quintet.

Sydney Falco

Hunsecker runs the allegedly world-renowned gossip column The Eyes of Broadway, and every performer and jazz club in town dreams of being mentioned in it.

And who just happens to be their connection?

Who else but the devil himself, Sydney Falco?

And no, I’m not exaggerating.

In an effort to “help” Rita keep her job as a cigarette girl, Falco essentially pimps her out to Otis Elwell, another columnist, in exchange for help running a smear campaign against Dallas.

My guy would sell his own mother for a favorable mention in Hunsecker’s column.

At some point during the movie, I found myself questioning the validity of Dallas and Susan’s relationship.

Susan is a kept woman.

Miserable, perhaps, but kept all the same.

If she were kicked out tomorrow, would she still love Dallas for richer or poorer?

After all, he’s still an up-and-coming musician.

Could she really survive that life?

But woe was I wrong.

J.J. Hunsecker

Frankly, J.J. Hunsecker terrifies me.

The man has dirt on everyone and isn’t afraid to use it.

He’s domineering.

Manipulative.

Calculating.

I can only imagine what kind of politician he would’ve become had he chosen that path.

Then again, I suspect he’d rather wield the power to influence public opinion than hold public office.

Why deal with democracy?

That’s far too slow.

Why sit in the White House when you can simply tell the sheep where to go?

That’s where the real power lies.

I thank Susan for her sacrifice, but I’d rather Hunsecker’s twisted obsession be directed toward her than toward the public.

My girl is only nineteen years old, and she’s already resigned herself to becoming an old spinster.

I wager the only man Hunsecker would’ve allowed her to marry is someone spineless and easily controlled.

Someone like Falco.

Though preferably less slimy.

Which Dallas most certainly is not.

Final Thoughts

On some level, I feel bad for Sydney.

He’s a victim of his own greed.

I imagine he grew up poor in an Italian neighborhood, dreaming of a better life.

A brokie from childhood determined to escape it.

At some point, he probably discovered that his half-baked schemes usually worked.

His lies cleared.

His hustles paid off.

But this time, his mouth wrote a check his wits couldn’t cash.

By constantly throwing around Hunsecker’s name and influence, he finally bit off more than he could chew.

And the entire house of cards came crashing down.

Anypoops, I give Sweet Smell of Success a well-deserved fresh rose.

Tell me what you think.

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