Moviegoing: a lesson in crisp dialogue

OK, I admit I can get a bit obscure at times. The headline to the item I posted below about Vin Diesel and Colin Farrell included the phrase, “Match me, Sidney.” That was, of course, a line from the 1957 noir “The Sweet Smell of Success” (which you can order here ).

It’s what Burt Lancaster , playing the ruthless newspaper columnist (is there any other kind?) J.J. Hunsecker, barks at the equally unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco ( Tony Curtis ). It’s how Hunsecker orders Falco to light his cigarette, which the humiliated Falco — dependent on Hunsecker to mention his clients’ names in print — resentfully does. It’s Hunsecker’s way of keeping the ambitious Falco in line.

I was lucky to get to see a new print of “The Sweet Smell of Success” a few years ago in New York. And I think movie reviewer Tim Dirks captures the fickle fate of some films best with his statement, “Although the bleak film was considered a box-office and critical failure (it lacked even a single Academy Award nomination), it has gained considerable critical prominence ever since.”

Here’s my other favorite line: “Sidney, conjugate me a verb. For instance, to promise. You promised to break up that romance — when?”

If the rules of language had been that clear in high school, I never would have flunked junior English.