Sweet Smell of Success (1957) | NOIR CITY PHILADELPHIA w/ TCM Host Eddie Muller
Advertisement
NOIRCITY PHILADELPHIA is this November 13th-15th! Join our friends from The Film Noir Foundation at our historic theater for a weekend full of thrilling Film Noirs on the big screen. This year’s theme is 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰, we will be showcasing nine excellent films about musicians curated by Turner Classic Movies Host & Noir Expert Eddie Muller. Muller will join us in-person to provide introductions to each film and for special events like the ASK EDDIE Q&A with Imogen Sara Smith, Editor of the Film Noir Foundation’s Noir City Magazine. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 at amblertheater.org/specials (Festival Passes have sold out).
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲: A box-office disaster upon original release, Sweet Smell of Success is now considered one of best films of the 1950s—as well as a definitive cinematic statement on the dangers of media corruption. Burt Lancaster seethes through a thinly veiled portrait of powerful New York gossip columnist Walter Winchell as J.J. Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis gives perhaps his finest performance as the two-faced, sycophantic press agent Sidney Falco.
Some of the most dyspeptic dialogue in screen history is spewed courtesy of writers Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets, all complemented by James Wong Howe’s cinéma vérité camerawork and a brassy, propulsive score by Elmer Bernstein. Keep your eyes and ears open as put-upon jazz cat Martin Milner sits in with the legendary Chico Hamilton Quintet (Paul Horn, flute; Fred Katz, cello; John Pisano, guitar; Carson Smith, bass; Chico Hamilton, drums). The film costars Susan Harrison, Emile Meyer, and Barbara Nichols (“What am I, a bowl of fruit? A tangerine that peels in a minute?”) J. J. Hunsecker said it best: “I love this dirty town!”
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲: A box-office disaster upon original release, Sweet Smell of Success is now considered one of best films of the 1950s—as well as a definitive cinematic statement on the dangers of media corruption. Burt Lancaster seethes through a thinly veiled portrait of powerful New York gossip columnist Walter Winchell as J.J. Hunsecker, and Tony Curtis gives perhaps his finest performance as the two-faced, sycophantic press agent Sidney Falco.
Some of the most dyspeptic dialogue in screen history is spewed courtesy of writers Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets, all complemented by James Wong Howe’s cinéma vérité camerawork and a brassy, propulsive score by Elmer Bernstein. Keep your eyes and ears open as put-upon jazz cat Martin Milner sits in with the legendary Chico Hamilton Quintet (Paul Horn, flute; Fred Katz, cello; John Pisano, guitar; Carson Smith, bass; Chico Hamilton, drums). The film costars Susan Harrison, Emile Meyer, and Barbara Nichols (“What am I, a bowl of fruit? A tangerine that peels in a minute?”) J. J. Hunsecker said it best: “I love this dirty town!”
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
108 E Butler Ave, Ambler, PA, United States, Pennsylvania 19002
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherThe Ambler Theater
