Most readers have come to the conclusion that film critics don’t like films. Who can blame them? Critics tend to glance back at the films of the past with nostalgia; they regard the future with trepidation and consider the films of the present with a mild sense of horror.When these critics unfavorably compare directors like M. Night Shyamalan to Hitchcock or actors like George Clooney to Cary Grant or vote in polls to show that no great film have been made since the 80s, readers are right to question such judgments.But, a fealty to contemporary film can result in tunnel vision — a diminished sense of aesthetic perspective. This is why it is important to dig a little deeper into the past to retrieve those important films forgotten by a change in the zeitgeist.One such delicious find is the 1957 film, “Sweet Smell of Success.””Sweet Smell of Success” is built around two characters, Sidney Falco and J. J. Hunsucker. Falco is a weasely press agent — the scum of New York whose survival depends on an ability to secure publicity for clients in high profile newspaper columns. Hunsucker, on the other hand, is a disreputable columnist who wields enormous public influence through his large base of readers — think of a cross between Thomas Friedman and Lou Dobbs.Hunsucker is unhappy with a budding romance involving his kid sister, Susan, and an up-and-coming jazz guitarist Steve Dallas, so he hires Falco to break it up.Unfortunately, Falco makes a mess of things by bungling the assignment. The insular world inhabited by these characters is then thrown out of sync.”Sweet Smell of Success” was directed by Alexander MacKendrick and shot by noted cinematographer James Wong Howe. Like Greg Tolland, Howe was adept in deep-focus photography — used to great effect here — and his facility with camera movement, lenses and lighting gives the film a visual delicacy.The film opens with a shot of Manhattan at night, and then is followed by a montage of tracking shots of a newspaper delivery truck. As a jazz riff plays on the soundtrack, we are treated to the neon-lit city populated by a roving mass of anonymous people and indistinguishable cars — New York City as an urban jungle.Howe delivers crisp whites and blacks with very strong shadows, which bathe the environ with an evil ambience. In one instance, when a cop steps out of the enveloping darkness into light, we get the distinct feeling that he would be more likely to flout the law than uphold it.After nearly 50 years, “Sweet Smell of Success” retains its piquancy because of its cast, its exceptional dialogue and its unabashed immorality.Both Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster give sterling performances as Falco and Hunsucker. Curtis brings a sniveling quality to Falco. At a point, Dallas tells him, “The next time you want information, don’t scratch for it like a dog. Ask for it like a man.” With Hunsucker, Lancaster has a self-assured malevolence rarely depicted onscreen — a rival describes him as having “the scruples of a guinea pig and the morals of a gangster.” Hunsucker is obviously the center of attention. There is a lovely scene where Falco first encounters Hunsucker in the nightclub “21.” Hunsucker is hosting a senator, an actress and her manager at his table. The overhead lighting throws some shadows from his glasses, creating a sinister appearance. Everyone kowtows to him; his ruthlessness is on full display.Another time there is a low angle shot of Hunsucker preparing for his television show. We get a low angle shot showing him tower over everyone else. The next shot is a high angle shot of Falco, Susan, Dallas and his manager, trotting through an aisle toward him — they resemble people on the way to communion, waiting to receive unction from a priest.In his review, film critic Andrew Sarris noted that “The main incentive to see this movie is its witty, pungent and idiomatic dialogue, such as you never hear on the screen anymore in this age of special-effects illiteracy.” “Sweet Smell of Success” has some of the sharpest dialogue in film. Unlike the Coens, whose characters affect country accents to draw laughs from their provinciality or the pop culture strewn monologues of Tarantino and his clones, the film uses words to give form to the overwhelming sleaze.”Sweet Smell of Success” seems weird in an age of expanding egalitarianism. Like Larry Lonesome Rhodes in “A Face in a Crowd,” Hunsucker is strange because of his massive influence. Nowadays, we do not expect anyone to have such sway. Hence, the fear of bugaboos such as the liberal media elite and the neoconservatives. Hollywood films have gotten a bad rap for being prosaic. That cannot be said about “Sweet Smell of Success.” It’s not just a classic; it’s a masterpiece.—-Contact Freke Ette at [email protected]