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Sweet Smell of Success

 Sweet Smell of Success
type
TVTItem
 Sweet Smell of Success
label
Sweet Smell of Success
 Sweet Smell of Success
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SweetSmellOfSuccess
 Sweet Smell of Success
comment
Sweet Smell of Success is a very dark 1957 American Film Noir directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. It's based on a story by Ernest Lehman, who also wrote the first draft of the screenplay, sharing credit with playwright Clifford Odets, who worked on the final rewrites. Mackendrick also did some uncredited writing work.J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster) is a ruthlessly powerful New York columnist who doesn't care for his sister Susan's (Susan Harrison) new boyfriend, jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Martin Milner). He hires ambitious press agent Sidney Falco (Curtis) to do the dirty work of breaking the two apart, by getting Steve smeared as a Communist – a career killer in an age when everyone suspected a Red under every bed.Though the film received poor audience reactions and was a box-office failure when it was first released, it was critically acclaimed and has come to be embraced as an all-time classic today. J.J. Hunsecker, played acerbically and ruthlessly by Burt Lancaster, is number 35 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 movie villains of all time.In 2002, the film was adapted into a stage musical, with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Craig Carnelia, and book by John Guare. The Broadway production starred John Lithgow as J.J. and Brian d'Arcy James as Sidney.
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2024-01-29T02:59:57Z
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2024-01-29T02:59:57Z
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DBTropes
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_11ad560b
type
Control Freak
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_11ad560b
comment
Control Freak: J.J. isn't protective of his sister Susan because he loves her, but because she "belongs" to him.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1282bf4f
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No Celebrities Were Harmed
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1282bf4f
comment
No Celebrities Were Harmed: J.J. Hunsecker is a thinly-disguished version of the once-powerful gossip columnist and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell.
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Sweet Smell of Success / int_1282bf4f
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_12b796e
type
Phoney Call
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_12b796e
comment
Phoney Call: Type B. Falco shows off to Herbie Temple by making a fake call to his secretary pretending to be speaking to J.J.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1b596e24
type
The Beard
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1b596e24
comment
The Beard: Senator Harvey Walker, press agent Manny Davis and his date Linda James are out having dinner with J.J. Or at least, Linda claims to be Manny's date, but Hunsecker isn't fooled. Before that, J.J. snarks that she's probably "studying politics", after she guiltily glances at Harvey. When she protests she's not into politics, having "Jersey City brains", he says back cattily, "The brains may be Jersey City, but the clothes are Traina-Norell."note Norman Norell was noted for making expensive dinner dresses.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1bf0adc6
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Did You Think I Can't Feel?
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1bf0adc6
comment
Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Rita asks Falco this when he tries to pimp her out to one of his clients. He replies with a Well, Excuse Me, Princess!, noting that he was just trying to help her in getting her job back.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1ee9819e
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Scary Shiny Glasses
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_1ee9819e
comment
Scary Shiny Glasses: J.J. Hunsecker wears them. They're iconic enough in-universe that they form the logo of Hunsecker's column, seen throughout the film in newspapers and on billboards.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_243eeb00
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Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_243eeb00
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Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do:
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_267ce120
type
Dirty Old Man
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_267ce120
comment
Dirty Old Man: The sleazy columnist that ends up running Sidney's article about Dallas. All on the condition that he gets to spend the night with Sidney's pretty friend.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_26b2747
type
Alliterative Title
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_26b2747
comment
Alliterative Title: Sweet Smell of Sucess.
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_26b2747
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_2764d432
type
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_2764d432
comment
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: How J.J. views Sidney, calling him "a cookie full of arsenic". He's not wrong.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_281de59f
type
Extremely Short Timespan
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_281de59f
comment
Extremely Short Timespan: The story plays out over the course of less than two days, beginning around 2:30 on Saturday morning and ending with sunrise on what's either Sunday or Monday.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_319e4a2f
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Even Evil Has Standards
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_319e4a2f
comment
Even Evil Has Standards: Falco has done some very shady things, but he seems particularly disgusted by the Dirty Cop and the whole plan to plant marijuana on Dallas.
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_319e4a2f
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_389f6c7b
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Sugary Malice
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_389f6c7b
comment
Sugary Malice: Hunsecker.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_3cc3ed1d
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Abuse Mistake
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_3cc3ed1d
comment
Abuse Mistake: Near the end of the film. Falco stops Susan from completing her suicide attempt, but J.J. walks in just as he's reassuring her on the bed. J.J. assumes that Falco tried to assault her (which she initially does nothing to dissuade), leading to Hunsecker inflicting a bit of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_3dbdb0d5
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Rudely Hanging Up
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_3dbdb0d5
comment
Rudely Hanging Up: Joe Robard does this to Falco early on after expressing his dissatisfaction with his work for him. Another client of Falco's does this to his secretary as well.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_3dfdc686
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Time-Passes Montage
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_3dfdc686
comment
Time-Passes Montage: A shot from Hunsecker's balcony onto the streets of New York dissolves from night to the next morning.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_40c57041
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Manipulative Bastard
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_40c57041
comment
Manipulative Bastard: Both Falco and Hunsecker.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_40cc0c7e
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Bittersweet Ending
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: Susie is likely to keep her relationship with Steve and Falco has been arrested, but Hunsecker will likely face no punishment-though Susie in the final scene is strongly implied to be completely cutting off with Hunsecker which is shown to upset him
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_44f5d199
type
Pretty in Mink
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_44f5d199
comment
Pretty in Mink: Susie's highly-symbolic fur coat. She is never seen without it until the final scene of the film where she wears a more modest wool coat to signify that J.J.'s influence on her is gone.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_48c99e19
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Death by Adaptation
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_48c99e19
comment
Death by Adaptation: Sidney's beating at Kello's hands is fatal in the musical adaptation, but not in the film.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_4b316d47
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Break the Cutie
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_4b316d47
comment
Break the Cutie: Poor, poor Susie. Falco's girlfriend Rita, after he prostitutes her out to another columnist without telling her in advance to further one of Sidney's schemes.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_4f84cdef
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Smug Snake
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_4f84cdef
comment
Smug Snake: What a lot of people view Falco as. A flack without a scruple to his name, willing to do anything to succeed, even using his friends. He slithers around trying to make deals with people by selling them on rhetoric, but many note that he's little more than a hired hand for Hunsecker, and pretty much all of his own schemes end up falling completely flat. He ends up getting Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_50b05d30
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Disproportionate Retribution
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_50b05d30
comment
Disproportionate Retribution: Hunsecker wants Dallas to suffer horribly throughout the film, though a lot of this comes from his overprotectiveness of Susie. However, when Dallas gives J.J. a speech detailing just how rotten of a person he is, Hunsecker is so offended that he organizes things so that Dallas gets horribly beaten up by the cops.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_53f5119f
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The Dragon
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_53f5119f
comment
The Dragon: Effectively, Falco to Hunsecker.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_617f0563
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Heel–Face Turn
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_617f0563
comment
Heel–Face Turn: Sidney's is out of character for him, and Odets stated that it was required by the studio in compliance with the Hays Code about villains never getting unpunished.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_658f7193
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Lack of Empathy
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_658f7193
comment
Lack of Empathy: J.J.'s defining trait.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_6b353f78
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Only Known by Initials
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_6b353f78
comment
Only Known by Initials: J.J. Even his sister calls him that.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_6d332aea
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Driven to Suicide
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: Susie, as her brother was determined to drive the lover of her life away.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_7335ffa9
type
Grey-and-Gray Morality
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_7335ffa9
comment
Grey-and-Gray Morality: No one in the movie is a particularly good person, with a lot of lying, cheating, smearing and backstabbing happening every step of the way. Neither Falco or J.J. as particularly noble people, but prone to extreme measures to maintain some level of power and control over the people around them. One columnist was proven to be above blackmail but still had to confess his infidelity to his wife. Another columnist ends up demanding a girl for the night. Dallas may be slightly better, as his attitude problem was deliberately spurred on by J.J. and Falco. As The Ingenue Susan comes closest to being pure, but it's left vague how involved she was in the final events of the story; she also allows J.J. to believe Falco assaulted her after he saves her life.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_7453bc5b
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Spared by the Adaptation
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_7453bc5b
comment
Spared by the Adaptation: The novella the movie is based on ends with Sidney's beatdown at the hands of J.J. after Susie sets him up, with the strong implication that J.J. kills him in the process.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_7d89315b
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"The Reason You Suck" Speech
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_7d89315b
comment
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, and all of them absolutely devestating. Falco is given quite a few throughout the film out of reproach for his deviousness. Additionally, Steve Dallas gives a severe one to Hunsecker, which ends up having severe consequences. Susan gives an all-time one to J.J. as the last lines of the film:
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_8042e814
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Actually Pretty Funny
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_8042e814
comment
Actually Pretty Funny: J.J. barely swallows a laugh when Linda thinks Sidney is an actor because "he's so pretty", before lauching into his "The Reason You Suck" Speech listed below.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_8288929a
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Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_8288929a
comment
Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Falco gets beaten up and jailed at the end.
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Broken Pedestal
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_868409c
comment
Broken Pedestal: Susan towards J.J. at the end, when forced to discover just how underhanded he is.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_87bb6874
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Villain with Good Publicity
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_87bb6874
comment
Villain with Good Publicity: JJ, and he weaponizes it, too.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_898ff050
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Villain Protagonist
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_898ff050
comment
Villain Protagonist: Falco, a weasel who screws over and uses everyone he meets in the film, with the exception of his boss, J.J. Hunsecker, who screws him over.
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Laser-Guided Karma
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_90e31482
comment
Laser-Guided Karma: J.J attempts to ruin Susie's relationship with Dallas ultimately backfires when Falco tells Susie in the climax about what J.J was doing, which just ends up destroys his relationship with Susie who wants nothing to do with him by the films final scene.
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The "The" Title Confusion
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_93d99453
comment
The "The" Title Confusion: There is no definite article in the film's title.
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Faux Affably Evil
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_95b7c400
comment
Faux Affably Evil: Hunsecker always speaks calmly and politely, especially to Susie and Steve. Neither of them are fooled.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_96a33f11
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Riddle for the Ages
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_96a33f11
comment
Riddle for the Ages: Does JJ actually have a smothering Big Brother Instinct, or is he only concerned about how his sister could be used to blackmail him? Or is it just a case of J.J. being an extreme Control Freak?
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_96e5792c
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Moral Guardians
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_96e5792c
comment
Moral Guardians: After J.J. phones to sic Kello on him toward the end, Sidney suddenly has an out-of-character line: "That fat cop can break my bones, but he'll never stop me from telling what I know." Word of God said this line was thrown in to appease the censors, since The Hays Code said that no one was allowed to get away with crime at all.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_977a6ec0
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Girl Friday
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_977a6ec0
comment
Girl Friday: Sally, Falco's secretary.
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Dirty Communists
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comment
Dirty Communists: One of the smears against Dallas is that he's a Party member.
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 Sweet Smell of Success / int_a0db7803
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It's Personal
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_a0db7803
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It's Personal: After Dallas gave his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to J.J., it appears the latter switched his motif from protecting his sister to destroying Dallas for his impertinence.
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Is That a Threat?
 Sweet Smell of Success / int_aab624e5
comment
Is That a Threat?: The Senator picks up on J.J's threatening manner.
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Edible Theme Naming
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Edible Theme Naming: A lot of food metaphors used to describe people in the film, including ice-cream, a barrel of pretzels, waffles with syrup, a tangerine that peels in a minute, a chicken in a pot, cookie full of arsenic, a bowl of fruit, and so on.
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Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
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Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Actually pointed out just before the climax. Falco notes that J.J.'s decision to have Dallas beaten up will only cause Susie to love him more, driving them further together. Although J.J. is confident that he has the situation under control, the action ends up causing Susie to renounce her association with J.J. altogether.
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Off-into-the-Distance Ending
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Off-into-the-Distance Ending: The final scene shows Susan leaving her and J.J.'s apartment and walking off into the streets of New York.
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Take That!
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Take That!: J.J. Hunsecker is one to Walter Winchell, a famous columnist and radio host who spread anti-Communist propaganda during the Red Scare. According to the commentary from the Criterion edition of the film, many of the people working on the film had either been blacklisted (such as Sam Levene, who played Frank D'Angelo) or were staunch liberals who hated the collaboration between HUAC and Hollywood (such as producer and star Burt Lancaster). In addition, Winchell had his own instance of being against a family's marriage (although truth may be stranger than fiction here): when his daughter tried to marry, he and his wife abducted her and put her in a psychiatric hospital.
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Terms of Endangerment
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Terms of Endangerment: Hunsecker constantly calls Susie "dear". He's called on this by Steve.
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Incest Subtext
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Incest Subtext: J.J.'s possessiveness of Susie smacks of feelings deeper than mere brotherly love.
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Interrupted Suicide
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Interrupted Suicide: Falco manages to keep Susan from jumping off the balcony.
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Grew a Spine
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Grew a Spine: Susie by the end.
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They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich
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They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: When Susan and Steve have their final talk at a bar, they order two coffees which they never touch.
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Unusual Euphemism
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Before that, J.J. snarks that she's probably "studying politics", after she guiltily glances at Harvey. When she protests she's not into politics, having "Jersey City brains", he says back cattily, "The brains may be Jersey City, but the clothes are Traina-Norell."note Norman Norell was noted for making expensive dinner dresses.
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Ambiguously Gay
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Ambiguously Gay: Sidney and J.J. act like jilted lovers, and there are strong hints Sidney slept with J.J. to get mentions in his column, such as J.J. calling Sidney "a cookie full of arsenic".
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Morality Pet
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Morality Pet: One would think of Susan as this for J.J., given how he genuinely cares for her and wants to see her protected. However, by the end of the film, it's clear that he is far more focused on his own needs than hers.
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But Liquor Is Quicker
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But Liquor Is Quicker: "How many drinks does it take to put you in that tropical island mood?"
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Dirty Cop
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Dirty Cop: Some work for Hunsecker.
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Blackmail Backfire
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Blackmail Backfire: Sidney tries to muscle one of J.J.'s rival columnists, Leo Bartha, by implying that he knows about an incident wherein Leo tried to sleep with a cigarette girl named Rita. Leo confesses to his wife right then and there, makes up with her, and launches into a "The Reason You Suck" Speech aimed at both Falco and Hunsecker - a surprising moment of awesome in such a black noir film.
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Sudden Principled Stand
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Sudden Principled Stand: When a columnist refuses to print a smear against Steve, despite Falco threatening to inform his wife about an affair. Falco, however, subverts his when J.J. merely offers to pay him more.
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The Dog Bites Back
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The Dog Bites Back: The cop Falco called fat earlier on gives him a good smack at the end when he is allowed to do so.
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My Sister Is Off-Limits
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My Sister Is Off-Limits: J.J. Hunsecker ruins his little sister's boyfriend's life because he doesn't approve of him for her.
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Sweet Smell of Success

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