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31 March 2007
1957 Film Boasts Best Screenplay Ever Written
4 of 5 found this helpful With a Clifford Odets-Ernest Lehman screenplay of the highest calibre, director and Englishman John Mackendrick, and master cameraman James Wong Howe place us in the middle of late-1950s NYC nightlife in very snazzy black and white at the table next to Burt Lancaster's J.J. Hunsecker, a ruthless. all-powerful newspaper columnist whose acid tongue and pen have stripped the flesh off many a New York entertainer and, even, a U.S. Senator (Hunsecker tells him, "Go and sin no more.") In comes Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), a hungry, sleazeball press agent, impatient and willing to do anything to win a seat at Hunsecker's table. J.J.'s current job for Falco is to bust-up his sister's relationship with jazz musician and good guy Steve played by Martin Milner. At about any point in time, there are acerbic verbal exchanges between Hunsecker and Falco, Falco and Steve, or Hunsecker, Falco and Steve, which give rise to some of the sharpest dialogue on screen. Steve, sensing Falco's undercover role, tells him, "The next time you want information, don't scratch for it like a dog, ask for it like a man!" Or, Steve to Hunsecker, "Mr. Hunsecker, you've got more twists than a barrel of pretzels."
Steve, as we can see, holds his own, but he's not in Hunsecker or Falco's league. Falco, after planting an illicit weed in Steve's coatpocket, tells Hunsecker, "The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river." Shortly thereafter, Hunsecker replies to Falco, "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic." And later, after Hunsecker promises Falco his columnist job temporarily for just ONE more act of sabotage, "Don't remove the gangplant, Sidney - you may wanna get back onboard."
Finally, Falco reminds Hunsecker, "Every dog will have his day."
There just are so many great lines in the screenplay, and it's all acted to perfection by Lancaster, Curtis and the entire cast. Falco sleazes up to Hunsecker's secretary, Mary, in order to get a peak at tomorrow's column, and she informs him, "You're an amuzing boy, but you haven't got a drop of respect for anything in human life."
This slice-and-dice never lets up as our two lead characters continue to hit new lows of humanity. There's really nobody with whom the audience may identify except maybe Hunsecker's sister, or maybe Milner the "jazz musician," but the film's true focus remains Hunsecker and Falco, who are unredeemable.
This is a very, very good film with a great screenplay, and consumate actors to perform it. There's no one to like in the film, but there's plenty to like about it.