Sweet Smell of Success

One of my top 10 movies, if only for the classic lines, great New York cinematography and wonderful acting by Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster. But what the hell does 'my right hand hasn't seen my left hand in 30 years' mean, anyway?

There's a great long article in Time Magazine of that details the events and people that ultimate inspired the movie.

MEMORABLE QUOTES from SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
HUNSECKER (Burt Lancaster): "I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."
HUNSECKER (holding an unlit cigarette): "Match me, Sydney."
FALCO (Tony Curtis): "Watch me run a 50-yard dash with my legs cut off."
HUNSECKER: "You see that grin? It's part of his helpless act. He throws himself upon your mercy."
FALCO: "In brief, from now on the best of everything is good enough for me."
HUNSECKER: "What's this boy got that Susie likes?"
FALCO: "Integrity - acute, like indigestion."
STEVE (Martin Milner): "The next time you want information, don't scratch for it like a dog, ask for it like a man."
HUNSECKER: "You're dead, son, get yourself buried."
FALCO: "A press agent eats a columnist's dirt and is expected to call it manna."
HUNSECKER: "Sidney lives in moral twilight."
HUNSECKER: "President? My big toe would make a better president."
HUNSECKER: "My right hand hasn't seen my left hand in 30 years."
RITA (Barbara Nichols): "What am I, a bowl of fruit? A tangerine that peels in an instant?"
RITA: "Here's mud in your column."

FALCO: "You were interviewed?"
RITA: "In his apartment."
FALCO: "Where was his wife?"
RITA: "I don't know; it's a big apartment."

HUNSECKER: "With the simple flick of a switch, I could shut out the greedy murmur of little men."
FALCO: "Starting today, you can play marbles with his eyeballs."
STEVE: "Mr. Hunsecker, you've got more twists than a barrel of pretzels."
HUNSECKER: "I don't relish shooting a mosquito with an elephant gun."
FALCO: "Maybe I left my sense of humor in my other suit."
HUNSECKER: "Here's your head, what's your hurry?"
FALCO: "The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river."
HUNSECKER: "I love this dirty town."

Compiled by Rob Nixon