One of the amusing running gags in Barry Levinson’s Diner is a character who wanders through the movie, constantly muttering lines from Sweet Smell of Success , newly available in a snazzy new Blu-Ray edition from The Criterion Collection. And with dialogue this good — courtesy of Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, based on Lehman’s story — who can blame the guy for wanting to recite these delicious lines over and over? “The cat’s in the bag, and the bag’s in the river,” “You’re dead, son; get yourself buried,” “Your mouth is as big as a basket, and twice as empty,” “In brief, from now on, the best of everything is good enough for me” — this is staccato word jazz of the most delicious variety.
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DVD: Sweet Smell of Success Still a Cookie Full of Arsenic
