Trivia for
Sweet Smell of Success (1957) More at IMDbPro »

• The character of J.J. Hunsecker is based on famed New York columnist Walter Winchell.
  
  
• Hunsecker's apartment building is actually the show-business office tower at 1619 Broadway, also known as the Brill Bldg., a famous part of Tin Pan Alley.
  
  
• One of the musical refrains that is repeated throughout the film was used nearly note for note in Boogie Nights (1997).
  
  
• This film's shoot was filled with macho tensions and at one point, the temperamental Burt Lancaster threatened to punch the film's writer, Ernest Lehman. The witty scribe replied, "Go ahead, I need the money."
  
  
• The movie's line "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic" was voted as the #99 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
  
  
• Orson Welles was initially suggested for the role of J.J. Hunsecker.
  
  
• In 2000, on their self-titled album, rock band Kitty Kat Stew released a song called "Cookie Full Of Arsenic". The song's lyrics relate to the movie and incorporates a snippet of its actual dialogue, featuring the famous line.
  
  
• The narc in the film, Lt Harry Kello, is based on NYPD detective Eddie Egan, immortalized by Gene Hackman as 'Popeye' Doyle in The French Connection (1971).
  
  
• Robert Vaughn originally landed the part of Steve Dallas, but was drafted into the Army before he could film any footage.
  
  
• In the opening shots of Manhattan, the movie The Mountain (1956) starring Robert Wagner and Spencer Tracy, is shown playing at a movie house. The Mountain came out one year before Sweet Smell of Success.
  
  
• David White's movie debut
  
  

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