Ebert's GREAT MOVIES, Part 11: "The Sweet Smell of Success"

I have never seen this movie, but it looks good.

Ditto, it's on my to see list.

Lightwizard<

This is an old one I'm not sure I have seen.

Was Tom Ewell among the cast?

LW: What can one say about Sweet Smell of Success that you and Roger Ebert haven't said so eloquently - except, that I loved it. It has been said that even though audiences at that time were unreceptive to the picture and Harold Hecht hated it, when Burt Lancaster spoke at colleges, that was the first film the students asked him to elaborate upon. I have put the film on my list of "must see again".

Can anyone remember two underated actors,Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, singing a duet at an Oscar show in the '60's, playfully disdaining their annual snubbing, by Oscar?

LW, This is a movie I had never heard of, or at least had not paid attention to. I watched it this afternoon, and would have to rate it as being among the most powerful storys I've seen on film. I've seen many films with Lancaster or Curtis in them, but I don't think I've ever gone to see a movie just because one of these guys was in it. However, if I'd seen this one in 1957, I would have always been looking for a repeat performance from them. They worked hand in glove as enemies and collaborators in this story, and were as effective as any two actors I've ever seen.

The portrayal of the egotistical, domineering, stop at nothing, climb to the pinnacle put me in mind of "Citizen Kane," which I had recently watched again.

Watching Falco maneuver his girl friend into the clutches of J.J.'s rival columnist was as painfully dramatic a scene as one could ever hope to avoid. These two guys were the ultimate slime balls.

The movie is almost Marxist in its criticism of basic capitalist motivations. Talk about a system feeding on itself to its own destruction.

Hey, I'm gratified that this session of Great Movies would move someone to see a film! The Broadway musical received very good reviews but wasn't exactly a box office smash. John Lithgow too Burt Lancaster's part on stage.

Burt Lancaster is a fine actor. For me, his most memorable performance was as the title character in Elmer Gantry for which, booman, he did win a Best Actor Oscar.

Other Lancaster standouts for me include The Rainmaker and Birdman of Alcatraz.

That was an exciting year for the Best Actor Oscar:

1. Burt Lancaster (won for Elmer Gantry)
2. Jack Lemmon (The Apartment)
2. Laurence Olivier (The Entertainer)
4. Spencer Tracy (Inherit the Wind(

Golly, I gues not many saw this film. Better get your little butts out to your local Blockbuster!

(You won't be dissapointed, I promise).

On my way!

Sweet Smell of Success has been on TCM Turner Classic Movies several times the last few months, including a showing a couple of weeks ago on the weekly show "The Essentials" (essential must-see films) at 6:00 pm (est) on Sunday nights. TCM is showing it again February 23.

Booman - from the book by Robert Osbourne, 60 years of the Oscar, page 153:

Angela Lansbury, Joan Collins, and Dana Wynter in 1959 did a special-material number, "Its Bully Not To be Nominated," a parody of a number done the previous year, "Its Great Not To Be Nominated," performed by Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as a humorous "sour grapes" ballad giving tongue-in-cheek reasons they weren't in the competition for acting awards.

So I guess it was 1958. You have a great memory!