SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS W/ LIVE JAZZ MUSIC & PINOT NOIR TASTING

JUNE 30

"I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic." With delicious dialogue like that you can't help but enjoy classic Film Noir Sweet Smell Of Success! Part of our Noir avec Noir series, set the 50's mean-street mood with a Pinot Noir tasting in the lobby and take in a live jazz performance on stage pre-film to make sure this vintage Noir experience hits all the right notes.

New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan (Susan Harrison), who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Marty Milner). Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.

A cinematic parable about the power of perception, manipulation of the press, and the corruption of ambition- Sweet Smell Of Success did not achieve its namesake with 1957 audiences- the characters' motives too sleazy-realistic, the social American commentary too revealing. Sweet Smell Of Success is now rightfully considered one of the greatest Film-Noir's ever made. Celebrated for its stunning black & white cinematography and ahead-of-its-time screenplay, SSoS is also appreciated for its stellar musical score & jazz soundtrack, composed by Elmer Bernstein and featuring jazz performances by the Chico Hamilton Quintet.

"The film is a slice of perversity—a study of dollar and power worship ... Alexander Mackendrick has a crisp film-noir style: the production is shaped by a zest for the corrupt milieu, the pulsating big-city life—the streets, the nightclubs, the cynical types, the noise and desperation. His temperament enables us to respond to the vitality in this decadence."- legendary film critic Pauline Kael.

Sweet Smell of Success is Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan's favorite film.