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Sweet Smell of Success Page #29
- NOT RATED
- Year:
- 1957
- 96 min
- 740 Views
When the columnist comes up to the table, the waiters
quickly pull out the table for him. Sidney comes to join
him; Sidney gets some attention, but considerably less.
CAMERA MOVES CLOSER.
HUNSECKER:
These drinks are warm.
WAITER:
You said you like to have them on
your table.
HUNSECKER:
What are you a critic?
WAITER:
I'll change --
HUNSECKER:
Forget it.
(to Sidney)
The real money ball is the boy...
SIDNEY:
Yeah, the boy...we're on the verge
of a farce, a real farce. As I see
it, if Susie had stood behind him
today he might have proved a threat.
But since primarily he's wedded to
his work, he's not going to be able
to take it.
A waiter shifts the position of the salad dish at Hunsecker's
elbow.
HUNSECKER:
(to waiter)
Stop tinkering, pal - that horse
radish won't jump a fence!
SIDNEY:
In brief, J.J., it's all over
because any hour now the boy will
give her up. Is it a farce or not?
Delicately salting his oysters, Hunsecker looks obliquely at
Sidney.
HUNSECKER:
Sidney, you pour over waffles, not
J.J. Hunsecker! What do you mean
that lousy kid will give up my
sister?
Hunsecker, with a casual gesture, tugs lightly at the end of
Sidney's tie.
Hunsecker's gesture is playful, but it inflicts great injury
to Sidney's dignity; Sidney cannot bear to be touched; he
finds this liberty on J.J.'s part as intolerable as anything
he has experienced, and only with great difficulty controls
himself. The SHOT FAVORS Sidney.
SIDNEY AND HUNSECKER
Hunsecker continues:
HUNSECKER:
Are you listening?
SIDNEY:
(warily)
How does it matter who's sister?
The main thing, they're through
and -
HUNSECKER:
From Sidney's viewpoint. Without turning, Hunsecker
interrupts:
HUNSECKER:
Am I supposed to forget how that
boy talked to me today?
Sidney senses a warning in Hunsecker's manner. He protests:
SIDNEY:
J.J., is he worthy of a second
glance from a man like you? Is he,
I mean?...
HUNSECKER:
From Sidney's viewpoint. Pausing during the process of
eating, Hunsecker reaches into an inside pocket.
HUNSECKER:
Brief epitaph:
"The boy was talkingwhen he should have been listening."
(then)
Bite on this.
CAMERA PULLS BACK to include Sidney as Hunsecker tosses in
front of him an envelope. Sidney opens it, extracts two
steamship tickets.
SIDNEY:
Steamship tickets?
HUNSECKER:
(as he eats)
For the next sailing of the Mary.
Susan's run down - she's never been
abroad and as you so cogently put
it, I'm not made of iron.
Sidney slowly pushes the envelope back to Hunsecker, who
leaves it lying on the table before him.
SIDNEY:
That's good. Now that louse is
outa Susie's hair for good.
SIDNEY:
He has an instinct to laugh; but something tells him not to.
HUNSECKER:
As Sidney makes no response, Hunsecker slowly, carefully
continues in a voice which is dangerously soft:
HUNSECKER:
I want that boy taken apart.
SIDNEY AND HUNSECKER
SHOOTING ACROSS Hunsecker onto Sidney. Sidney puts down his
fork. He sees now that the issue is serious and must be
faced.
SIDNEY:
(seriously)
Why do something that would drive
them right back into each other's
arms? Not to mention that this
time Susie would know who shot the
arrow...
HUNSECKER:
(interjecting quietly)
She knows now.
SIDNEY:
(quickly)
Why give her real proof? You
nearly ruined her with her first
husband - and you were right,
J.J., - but she almost followed him
out the window. What do you want -
a chronic invalid?
HUNSECKER:
He wants no advice from Sidney. He interrupts with quiet
savagery.
HUNSECKER:
I know how to handle Susie. You
just handle the boy, Sidney...
(scribbles on scratch pad)
...preferably tonight.
(pushes pad across to Sidney)
SIDNEY AND HUNSECKER
SHOOTING ACROSS Hunsecker onto Sidney. Sidney feels sick.
SIDNEY:
Why, what's tomorrow - a holiday?
CAMERA MOVES CLOSER as Sidney picks scratch pad up. We can
read two words:
"Get Kello".SIDNEY:
I think I'll go home - maybe I left
my sense of humor in another suit.
HUNSECKER:
Hunsecker finishes eating. During the ensuing speech, which
he begins quietly and sensibly, Hunsecker's venomous feelings
are unexpectedly betrayed.
HUNSECKER:
You've got that God-given brain -
learn to use it! Do you think it's
a personal matter with me, this boy?
Are you telling me I see things in
terms of personal pique? Don't you
see that today that boy wiped his
feet on the choice, on the
predilections of sixty million men
and women of the greatest country
in the world! If you had any
morals yourself, you would
understand the immorality of that
boy's stand today! It was not me
he criticized - it was my readers!...
CAMERA PULLS BACK to include Sidney. Hunsecker manages to
control himself; he reaches with nervous fingers toward his
scribbling pad.
SIDNEY:
Sidney's face has tightened. He has begun now to realize
the extent of this man's megalomania. After a moment he
says:
SIDNEY:
I'm leaving, J.J....
HUNSECKER AND SIDNEY
SHOOTING ACROSS Sidney onto Hunsecker.
HUNSECKER:
(a quiet warning)
Don't remove the gangplank, Sidney;
you may wanna get back on board.
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"Sweet Smell of Success" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Sep. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/sweet_smell_of_success_524>.
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