Clifford Odets

A powerful Broadway columnist coerces an unscrupulous press agent into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician. J.J. Hunsecker, the most powerful newspaper columnist in New York, is determined to prevent his sister from marrying Steve Dallas, a jazz musician. He therefore covertly employs Sidney Falco, a sleazy and unscrupulous press agent, to break up the affair by any means possible. —David Levene <D.S.Levene@durham.ac.uk> J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), is a tyrannical Broadway columnist for the New York Globe who rules his demimonde with the press's power to create or destroy. Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), is the hustling publicist who is consumed by desperate ambition and hates himself because of it; he will do anything to gain the admiration of Hunsecker ("My experience, in brief, is dog eat dog.") The film was shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, giving it a grittiness that underscores the class ranking among the characters. In the script by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, Falco's early prediction - "Every dog has its day" - comes crashingly true. —alfiehitchie New York press agent Sidney Falco's livelihood, and by association those of his clients, are largely dependent upon getting those clients' names in the New York newspaper columns, most notably that of the most influential of all the New York columnists, J.J. Hunsecker. Sidney's livelihood is in jeopardy because J.J., a so-called "friend," asked Sidney to do him a favor which he couldn't accomplish, namely breaking up the relationship of his 19-year-old sister, Susan Hunsecker, toward whom J.J. is overprotective, and Steve Dallas, a jazz guitarist who leads his own combo. J.J. won't give Sidney or his clients the time of day until Sidney accomplishes this task. Sidney decides to use the only tool he truly has available to him in his professional life, regardless of the effect on Steve or Susie. Sidney worries about J.J.'s reaction, which he needn't have worried about as J.J. wants not only to break them up but to ruin Steve in the process for being this thorn in his side. Both Steve and Susie are aware of both Sidney and J.J.'s roles in what is happening around them, but they may feel helpless in getting themselves out from their predicament. The question becomes whether J.J., Sidney and Susie's individual relationships with the other two, and J.J. and Sidney's professional lives can survive what was meant as a means to bolster their own individual power. —Huggo Sidney Falco is a press agent. His livelihood depends on him getting coverage for his clients with influential newspaper columnists. The most influential is JJ Hunsecker and Falco would do anything to get in his good books. Currently he is trying to break up the relationship of Hunsecker's sister with a jazz guitarist that Hunsecker doesn't like. This leads to a Machiavellian plot and profound repercussions. —grantss

A director hires an alcoholic has-been and strikes up a stormy relationship with the actor's wife, who he believes is the cause of all the man's problems. Washed up singer/actor Frank Elgin has a chance to make a come-back when director Bernie Dodd offers him the leading role in his new musical. Frank however is very insecure, turns to alcohol and shuns even the smallest of responsibilities, leaving everything up to his wife Georgie who finds it harder and harder to cope with her husband's lack of spirit. Bernie tries to help Frank regain his self-confidence, believing that it is Georgie who's the cause of his insecurity. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> Broadway director Bernie Dodd is in desperate need of a male lead for his new play and pushes to hire Frank Elgin, an aging one time star with just the experience and skills required. The downside is that he has a reputation for being an unreliable drunk. Elgin has the talent for the job, but seems to be entirely dependent on his wife Georgie to make all of his decisions for him. He tells Dodd that she has to come with them when they go to Boston to fine tune the show. He describes his wife as the drinker and suicidal at times and simply can't be left alone. Dodd takes up his cause, blaming Georgie for Frank's lack of self-confidence and a clash of wills ensues. He soon realizes he may have incorrectly assumed who was supporting who in their relationship. —garykmcd The hard-drinking Frank Elgin, a once-popular Broadway star whose glory days have passed. When director Bernie Dodd gives Elgin a role in his new musical, he must also deal with the actor's sour and ever-present wife, Georgie, who Dodd believes is the cause of her husband's failure. However, as Dodd spends more time around Georgie, the truth about her husband becomes clear. —Jwelch5742 Famed Broadway director Bernie Dodd is known for making risky casting choices which may not make the process of the show smooth, but generally has electrifying results on stage. With only a couple of weeks until out of town Boston previews, he has to recast the lead in his new musical, he lobbying for Frank Elgin, formerly a Broadway heavyweight whose career years ago sank under the weight of the onset of his alcoholism. Bernie is the only one on Frank's side, producer Philip Cook in particular who does not want to risk what is largely his money on Frank. Winning out in casting Frank albeit on only a two week run contract, Bernie, who nonetheless wants to provide as much support to Frank knowing the potential problems, is up front that one bender is enough to fire him. In hiring Frank, Bernie learns that he is a package deal with his wife, frumpish Georgie Elgin. In explaining the situation to Bernie, Frank tells a story of his and Georgie's life going off the rails following the death of their infant son, he, in trying to help Georgie deal with her grief in her turning to the bottle and attempting suicide, turned to the bottle himself while Georgie emerged out of her alcohol dependence. With Frank having problems in rehearsals up to and during the Boston run, he maintains a happy and cordial demeanor to all including Bernie, while behind the scenes is demanding that Georgie lobby for more and more on his behalf. Georgie supports Frank in being that liaison to Bernie solely in wanting Frank to be the man he once was. And Bernie, who handles Frank with kid gloves, blames all their problems on Georgie, not only in she being the crutch on which Frank always leans, but in his belief that she is the reason for Frank's alcoholism. This leads to a complex situation between the three, which the truth may be the only catalyst for them dealing meaningfully with what is going on. —Huggo

Mae Doyle comes back to her hometown a cynical woman. Her brother Joe fears that his love, fish cannery worker Peggy, may wind up like Mae. Mae marries Jerry and has a baby; she is happy but restless, drawn to Jerry's friend Earl. The bitter and cynical Mae Doyle returns to the fishing village where she was raised after deceptive loves and life in New York. She meets her brother, the fisherman Joe Doyle, and he lodges her in his home. Mae is courted by Jerry D'Amato, a good and naive man that owns the boat where Joe works, and he introduces his brutal friend Earl Pfeiffer, who works as theater's projectionist and is cheated by his wife. She does not like Earl and his jokes, but Jerry considers him his friend and they frequently see each other. Mae decides to accept the proposal of Jerry and they get married and one year later they have a baby girl. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil After ten long years of absence, Mae Doyle returns to her hometown of Monterey, California, disillusioned by the big-city lifestyle of New York. There, unattainable Mae's air of sophistication and confidence catches the eye of the hard-working, good-natured fisherman, Jerry, and his misogynistic, patronising, movie projectionist friend, Earl, who, right from the start, begins to court her. But, Mae has had her share of loser boyfriends, and even though she seems determined to spare an innocent her cynicism, she decides to take a second chance at love and marries Jerry. Now, one year and a baby daughter later, a silent undercurrent of unspoken desires and raw lust threaten Jerry's happiness. Once, Jerry promised that he would do anything for Mae. Is he prepared to lose everything in the aftermath of love? —Nick Riganas Without warning to anyone at her destination, Mae Doyle, having been east for ten years, returns home to the fishing community of Monterey, California to regroup in a sudden change in fortune having to do with her married politician lover having passed away and thus time away unfulfilled in her goal of a rich husband to take care of her. She moves back into the family cottage occupied by her brother, fisherman Joe Doyle, who is ambivalent to her return in they having different outlooks in life, he who just wants to settle down in their blue collar life with his cannery worker girlfriend, Peg. While Joe is concerned that Mae will give Peg, whose life experience has been relegated to Monterey, grand ideas of the world, Mae herself has to decide where her future lies as she catches the attention of two very different men. The first is Jerry D'Amato, Joe's boss, a simple man who lives with and is thus caregiver to his drunkard widowed father and his freeloading maternal Uncle Vince. Jerry wants a traditional family life with a wife who would look after him, while he in return would never hurt her, he thus being a "safe" but boring choice. The second is Joe's best friend, Earl Pfeiffer, who works as a projectionist at the movie theater. While Earl is already married, to a chorus girl on the road more often than she is at home, he too is a restless soul which manifests itself often in inappropriate behavior. While Mae understand someone like Earl more so than someone like Jerry, she also knows that Earl has the potential to be bad for her, especially in they being so like minded and in he seemingly and inherently not liking women. —Huggo