June 2023 - Sweet Smell of Success
We hope you will join us this Monday, June 19th for Cinema Club! We will be screening the 1957 classic Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Susan Harrison. The cynical sharp dialogue, corrupt characters, and "dirty town" depiction of '50s New York nightlife culminate in an exceptional piece of noir cinema that you won't want to miss.

Cinema Club meets in the Aspen Drive Library Meeting Room in Vernon Hills. No registration is required. Add it to your calendar so you don't forget!

Here's a few articles to skim beforehand...
In an essay for Criterion, film and jazz critic Gary Giddins digs into all of the disparate elements that make Sweet Smell of Success, well... a success! But an unlikely one.

"We do not mind the absence of a few genre conventions, like a hero or hope or justice, when we can get, in spades, scintillating dialogue, ingenious photography, keyed-up performances, and coolly thumping music, all paced at a carousing canter."
This article from Cinephilia & Beyond is a treasure trove of information on the making of Sweet Smell of Success. The article is long, but functions like an exhibit for the film that you can skim through and pick out areas to go deeper. Learn about the chaotic making of the movie and its poor initial reception. Read the script in full. Watch interviews with screenwriter Ernest Lehman, director Mackendrick, and the legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe. See behind the scenes photos and original promos for the movie.

“It was a dangerous movie. And a brilliant one. When Sweet Smell of Success opened on June 27, 1957, however, it was a flop.”
Next Movie: Shoplifters
July 17, 2023
Aspen Drive Library Meeting Room
6:30pm - Film screening followed by discussion.

2018 | Rated R | 2h 1min | Japanese-language film
A Japanese family with inadequate incomes depend on shoplifting to make ends meet.

With Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Kirin Kiki. 

DROP IN. No registration required.