MovieChat Forums > Sweet Smell of Success (1957) Discussion > I need a little help with something.

I need a little help with something.

posted 20 years ago by unstrung-harp
1 reply | jump to latest

This may be a rather stupid question but I have to ask it. Sidney told Otis that the slanderous item about Steve would clobber J.J. Now, did he (Sidney) just pretend to be on the outs with J.J. in order to get Otis to put it in his column? Did or didn't J.J. want the damning gossip to be published? I ask because it seemed that J.J. was going to come to Steve's defence with that speech he was dictating for his show. What do you guys think?

[–] montyque 20 years ago

I think that Otis (wrongly) believes that JJ would not want his sister's boyfriend to get smeared. Yes, Falco did pretend to be on the outs with JJ, and gave Otis the info with the pretense that it would hurt JJ, when in fact it was part of JJ's plan.