Sweet Smell of Success Page #26

SIDNEY:

(solemnly)

Yeah, she's had a peck of trouble

for a kid...

Hunsecker flicks a look at Sidney. No one else, warier by

the minute, knows what to say. Hunsecker purrs onward:

HUNSECKER:

Susie likes to keep her girlish

secrets. But in her heart of

hearts I imagine, Dallas, that she

fancies you in an uncommon way.

Now, what about YOU, son? Not just

tom-catting around...I hope?

SUSAN:

(quickly)

J.J., Steve isn't...

Hunsecker cuts her off with lazy good nature:

HUNSECKER:

Take it easy, Susie. He wouldn't

be much of a man if he didn't

understand my concern. Would you,

son?

STEVE:

(pausing, quietly)

No, I wouldn't...

HUNSECKER:

(nodding)

Serious as a deacon...I like it. I

like your style, son! In a world

of old rags and bones, I like it!

For instance, take Sidney.

Hunsecker crosses toward Sidney.

HUNSECKER (CONT'D)

If Sidney got anywhere near Susie

I'd break a bat over Sidney's head!

(smiling faintly)

Sidney lives so much in a moral

twilight that, when I said you were

coming here, he predicted disaster.

You wouldn't take my favor -- you'd

chew up the job, he said, and spit

it right back in my face!

(sniffing)

Any truth in that...?

D'ANGELO, STEVE AND SUSAN

Steve is thrown for a loss momentarily; Frank steps in.

D'ANGELO

No, Mr. Hunsecker, and if I can

amplify --

HUNSECKER AND SIDNEY

HUNSECKER:

(motionless)

Don't amplify.

RESUME D'ANGELO, STEVE AND SUSAN

D'ANGELO

Steve wantsa thank you for this

favor. He --

GROUP SHOT:

SIDNEY:

(provocatively)

Frank, you don't listen! J.J. just

told you to shut your mouth!

STEVE:

(hotly)

Don't you think it's about time you

shut yours? Who are you to tell a

man like Frank D'Angelo to shut up?!

D'ANGELO

(warningly)

Steve, that isn't important --

But Steve, on a heated rip, has turned to Hunsecker:

STEVE:

Does he have to be here in our hair?

HUNSECKER:

HUNSECKER:

Why, has he bothered you before?

STEVE, D'ANGELO AND SUSAN

STEVE:

Is it news to you?

HUNSECKER:

HUNSECKER:

Son, lots of people tell me I'm a

gifted man, but I still can't see

around corners.

GROUP SHOT:

HUNSECKER:

(tolerantly)

Just exactly what are you so hot

about?

(waiting)

I mean, I know it's a difficult

thing to be an artist in this

crudest of possible worlds, but --

STEVE:

(impatiently)

Nuts! I'm not here as an artist!

I'm here as an average Joe, who

happens to love your sister Susie!

HUNSECKER:

(with ironic smirk)

Well, just be careful you don't

knock her down, huh?

Steve stops dead. Then, strangely and dangerously, he picks

up Hunsecker's smile. On each man's face the smile broadens

and grows up into a chuckle from each; but the meanness

still flickers around Hunsecker's mouth. Steve is out of

the net!

HUNSECKER:

(affably)

Frankly, son, you lost me on that

last hill. Just give us the punch

line...

STEVE:

(agreeably)

No punch line. Maybe I was just

admiring your know-how---yours and

Falco's.

HUNSECKER AND SIDNEY

HUNSECKER:

Why do you keep coupling me with

Falco?

STEVE, D'ANGELO AND SUSAN

STEVE:

(innocently)

He's here, isn't he? Do you think,

sir, when he dies he'll go to the

dog and cat heaven?

HUNSECKER AND SIDNEY

Even Hunsecker smiles. Sidney likes neither the ridicule or

the turn of events. He moves quickly past CAMERA.

SIDNEY, STEVE, D'ANGELO AND SUSAN

Sidney comes round the row of theatre seats to attack Steve.

SIDNEY:

Let's forget cats and dogs and

other pseudo-literary remarks---

I'll just lay it on the line! What

about that big rumpus in my office

today? You were there, Frank!

Where, according to St. Dallas, J.J.

was responsible for the Elwell smear!

HUNSECKER:

HUNSECKER:

Don't go wild, Sidney.

GROUP SHOT:

SIDNEY:

Wild? Take a look at them and see

who's wild...

Playing along nicely, Hunsecker looks at Steve and Frank and

slowly removes his arm from Susan; he pauses before asking

Dallas:

HUNSECKER:

What about that...?

D'ANGELO

(uneasily)

Steve was excited...he didn't mean

it exactly the way it's stated

here...

HUNSECKER:

(to Steve)

How did you mean it...?

SIDNEY SUSAN

What he likes to--- J.J., I don't want to say---

With a roar Hunsecker takes them both out of play; he stands

up.

SIDNEY, STEVE, D'ANGELO

Hunsecker enters from behind CAMERA.

HUNSECKER:

Both of you keep quiet!

(to Sidney)

You've made more damage here in one

minute than a plague of locusts!

If you're tired, Susie, sit down---

this needs investigation!

(to Steve, quieter)

How did you mean it...?

(waiting)

Come on, let's go! Let's go!...

Steve is cornered, the other completely out of play. He

pauses:

STEVE:

I don't take kindly to you and

Falco selling me ethics. Who's the

injured party here, you?

HUNSECKER:

(with contempt)

Right now you're in no position to

ask questions! And your snide

remarks---

Rate this script:3.0 / 3 votes