Editing Sweet Smell of Success (section)

==Plot==
One night in Manhattan, slick, up-and-coming [[publicity|press agent]] Sidney Falco scans the ''New York Globe'' for the column of the immensely popular journalist J.J. Hunsecker, an influential media kingpin whose journalistic contributions and associated radio show both dominate the entertainment world. For the fifth consecutive day, J.J. has neglected to publicize any of Sidney's clients, as he is overly protective of his 19-year-old younger sister Susan and has asked Sidney to end her recent affair with Steve Dallas, a budding jazz guitarist.

Later, at the Elysian Room, where Steve performs with his group, the Chico Hamilton Quintet, Sidney argues with his uncle and Steve's manager, Frank D’Angelo, who has promised him that Steve and Susan will part. Upon learning from his girlfriend Rita, a [[cigarette girl]], that Susan is awaiting Steve behind the club, he interrupts the pair's celebration. Steve, who mainly values integrity, angrily accuses him of “scratching for information like a dog.” Inside, Rita appeals to Sidney to help her retain her job, which is at risk because she refused to sleep with J. J.’s main competitor, the prominent columnist Leo Bartha, who then ordered her dismissal. After Sidney secures a date with Rita, Susan questions his relationship with J.J. inside a cab, but he reassures her that J.J. is a close friend of his. Outside the [[21 Club]], J.J. greets his informer, Harry Kello, a corrupt police lieutenant, who is long indebted to J. J. for petitioning the mayor to save his job after Kello beat a suspect severely. When Sidney reveals Steve's and Susan's engagement, J.J. gives him an ultimatum to destroy their relationship. Desperate to salvage his career, he vows not to disappoint J.J.

Sidney attempts to blackmail Leo at [[Toots Shor's Restaurant|Toots Shor's Restaurant and Lounge]] by threatening to expose his marital infidelity with Rita unless Leo prints a defamatory gossip item stating that Steve is a Communist who smokes marijuana. Instead, Leo chooses exposure over compromising his journalistic integrity, which even his wife Loretta praises as his first decent act in years. Sidney then bribes another columnist, Otis Elwell, who agrees to print the item if Sidney will arrange for him to receive a sexual favor from an "available" woman. At his apartment, Rita balks at the implications of getting acquainted with Otis, but ultimately assents to Sidney's plan in order to stay employed. The next morning, the smear appears in Otis's column and the Chico Hamilton Quartet is fired.

As planned, J.J. theatrically gets Steve rehired with a phone call in front of Susan, but Steve rebukes him for being a malignant influence on society. Forced to choose between them, an overwhelmed Susan breaks up with Steve, hoping to save him from J.J.'s vengeance. Planning to destroy Steve's career, an incensed J.J. orders Sidney to plant marijuana on Steve; a shocked Sidney balks, saying he can accept a dog collar but not a noose, but once J. J. offers to let Sidney write his column for three months while he vacations with Susan in Europe, he acquiesces.

At the Elysian Room, Sidney slips the cigarettes into the pocket of Steve's coat. Once Steve finishes work that evening, Kello accosts him outside and so assaults him that he is hospitalized. At a bar, surrounded by his industry cohorts, Sidney celebrates his accomplishment but is then summoned to J.J.'s penthouse apartment. He arrives to find a distraught Susan in her nightgown, about to commit suicide by jumping off the balcony. He barely rescues her, and takes her into her bedroom to rest. Upon arriving to find the two holding each other, J.J. harshly scolds him. Realizing that Susan set him up, Sidney irately reveals to her that J.J. conspired to frame Steve; he then departs, vowing to reveal the truth and informing J.J. that Susan is permanently lost to him. J.J. then calls Kello and tells him Steve is innocent, ordering Sidney to be arrested for planting the evidence. As Sidney exits the building, Kello stops and brutally beats him.

As Susan packs her belongings, J.J. unsuccessfully begs her to stay; she coolly informs him that death is preferable to living with him. An overwrought J.J. watches from the balcony as she strides into the coming dawn to start life afresh with her lover.