Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success

I’ve been looking for a quote from the actor in question – where he talks about the breakthrough he experienced in playing this part – but I have yet to find it. It’s in a book I have – one of thousands, which I can’t locate.

When I find it, I will post.

In the meantime: remarkable performance. Especially when seen in the context of the rest of his career.


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7 Responses to Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success

  1. SteveHL says:

    It is an excellent performance but so much of that is astute casting. Some of what should be good roles Curtis had seem so ill-chosen. It isn’t that he is terrible in, say, “Spartacus”; it is simply a part for which he is unsuited. And many of his films don’t allow for much good acting. What would Laurence Olivier have done with “Son of Ali Baba”? I especially like Curtis in some (but certainly not all) of his comedy parts – “The Great Race” and “Captain Newman, M.D.” come to mind immediately.

  2. red says:

    // It is an excellent performance but so much of that is astute casting. //

    In cases such as this one I do not separate the two.

    It was a moment of a perfect-storm of coincidences where the material, the production company, the vibe of the project converged – and he stepped up to the plate (where is that quote in my book?) – not to mention the fact that someone had the imagination to offer him the role in the first place.

    Sure it was astute casting. Wouldn’t have mattered at all if Curtis hadn’t delivered.

    Hes just terrific in the part!

  3. red says:

    (Oh, and I love him as a comic actor too! But here he is just wonderful!! Totally unlike anything else he had done!)

  4. bill says:

    am I so not bright? Boston strangler? Inquiring minds…

    btw…I’ve always LOVED mr. harris…s…you’re my long lost twin sometimes…

  5. red says:

    bill – hahahaha! No – Sweet Smell of Success!

    We really are long lost twins from time to time. Mr. Harris is killer!!

  6. bill says:

    oy I’m such a dummy! And I just saw this. Remember that kid in DINER who went around quoting that?

  7. red says:

    Bill – hahahahaha I forgot about him! He like swoops in on the table from behind, spouting lines – from that movie of all things!! – and they’re all like, “Get the fuck outta here!!”

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