The Sweet Smell of Success

As the inimitable Debbie Hunt of Singles fame once said, "Desperation is the world's worst cologne." Too true, I think. People can smell desperation the way animals can smell fear and the way I can smell fried pastry in the next county. And it's not a good smell, folks. (Desperation, not the fried pastry. Anything doughnut-like smells like heaven to me.)

Desperation is the main ingredient in the ironically titled film, The Sweet Smell of Success. Press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is desperate to get his client's names in the papers. Powerful columnist J.J. Hunsaker (Burt Lancaster) is desperate to get his beloved little sister away from a boyfriend he doesn't approve of. Susan Hunsaker is desperate to get out from under the withering influence of her overbearing brother.



It's a prescient film in a lot of ways, accurately demonstrating the consequences of a celebrity/media/ego-centered society. It could just as easily be set in today's world, only instead of being a Walter Winchell-inspired columnist, J.J. Hunsaker might be a celebrity blogger or work for TMZ.

As a film, it's plenty flawed. It won't be one I'll return to anytime soon but, for what it was, it was worth watching.

Random Thought #1 - Maybe Tony Curtis is just small but Burt Lancaster looked like an absolute gorilla next to him. The guy's shoulders looked to be about seven feet wide. Was he really that big?

Random Bit o' Trivia #1 - Susan Harrison, who played Susan Hunsaker, is the mother of Darva Conger, the woman who got married on Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire. Small world, eh?