The Sweet Smell of Success – Tuesday 10th February 2026

I watched this classic for the first time, and I have to say, It’s bloody good!

It’s amazing just how good old Hollywood movies are compared to the ‘safe slop’ they serve up these days. Filmmakers and actors were allowed to take risks, making morality plays that bring to life stories about deplorable characters, whilst shining a light on the corruption in our world.

That’s what this film does, and does without being preachy.

At first, it took me a while to get used to the fast-paced, ‘jazz-riff’ style of dialogue, where the characters speak in colloquial metaphors and witty insults; a type of slang that seems like a caricature of the ‘gumshoe’ detective novel. Once you’re used to it, it’s almost Shakespearean in how it conveys meaning so succinctly.

It’s hard to imagine a time when newspaper columnists wielded so much power; they were practically celebrities, deciding what the news was, and who was guilty or innocent. That’s the period this film takes place in, with everyone trying to curry the favour of ‘J.J. Hunsecker’ so he can write stories in their favour. Of course, power corrupts, and this is a satire about how that world operates.

Tony Curtis is perfect as the fast-talking, bullsh!tting publicist who would literally sell his own mother if it meant he could make a quick buck! He’s charming, witty, and full of crap! Burt Lancaster is also perfect as the aloof, morally superior columnist ‘J.J. Hunsecker’, who’s only too happy to do favours when it suits his (often insidious) purpose, but acting like such things are beneath him.

What’s great about this film, aside from the swift pacing and lean storytelling (there’s not a superfluous moment!), is that it gives centre stage to two of the most shady characters in the story! There are morally virtuous characters, and a lesser film would have made them the protagonists, but here we revel in the company of people we aren’t ordinarily privy to be in the company of.

The film also effectively lifts the lid on the kind of corruption that is no doubt still prevalent in the news media, without making that the focus of the story, and as said, without being preachy.

It’s also a very entertaining film! The fact that a good film can be so multi-faced, say so much about character, and the world we inhabit, whilst also simply being ‘a good story’, reminds us of the power of good movies. It’s a shame that the practitioners in the modern-era seem to have forgotten all this, and strive to make films that appeal to ‘everyone’, and thus speak to no-one.

Anyway, check it out! Great film.