The highlight of Sweet Smell of Success has got to be its flabbergasted-ly immaculate dialogue, jeez. When you think the next line in a scene can’t outdo the previous ingenious, slogan-worthy quip, well, it victoriously does so. Such a classy script to partner with such versatile performances.
There’s a batch of precise and keen camera maneuvering happening in this motion picture, as well. To cap it all off, there’s furthermore barely a wiff of scruffy transitioning going on around here. This classic is a technical success at the end of the hour too.
To switch the topic back on target, however, when all is said and done, the writing here is unarguably challenging. It’s contentiously up there with legendary scripts like Polanski’s, Chinatown, according to my book. Don’t let this under-appreciated gem slip under your radar. As cheesy as this may sound, it’s a cinematic revolution that deserves strict attention and dissection.
They seriously weren’t kiddin’ though when they said J.J. and Sidney would do “ANYTHING” to obtain that sweet, sweet scent of success. Karma bites!
Verdict: A
“Sweet Smell of Success” is now available to stream on Amazon Prime, iTunes, and The Criterion Channel.
Burning the Celluloid 
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