Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

IMDb plot summary: Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick. Starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, and Martin Milner.

(Minor spoilers ahead.)

I went into this movie thinking it was more satire and less noir, so the extremely dark tone took me by surprise. There is also a LOT going on in this movie, with a lot of characters and subtext to keep track of. It definitely left me feeling like there is a lot more beneath the surface. I was more than anything drawn to the story of J.J.'s young sister, who is so under her brother's corrupt, abusive thumb that she doesn't know how to escape. A lot of the movie is a sort of dark intrigue adventure as Tony Curtis tries to get what he wants, but it wasn't until the more emotional aspects of the story that I really got into it. This is one that it's going to take me a while to process, I think, so I want to let it sit and then rewatch it a year or two down the line and see how it falls after I've had some time to think about it.

3.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Sweet Smell of Success > Good Morning, Vietnam
Sweet Smell of Success < The Artist
Sweet Smell of Success > Children of Paradise
Sweet Smell of Success > Hamlet (2009)
Sweet Smell of Success < sex, lies, and videotape
Sweet Smell of Success < Creed
Sweet Smell of Success < Ninotchka
Sweet Smell of Success > 21
Sweet Smell of Success < Collateral
Sweet Smell of Success > Liberal Arts
Sweet Smell of Success > Hail, Caesar!

Final spot: #761 out of 2482.