No studio dared touch the material - but it got made anyway. And was a primary inspiration for Mad Men.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957) follows the toxic alliance between J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), a ruthless and megalomaniacal New York columnist - obviously based on feared gossip merchant Walter Winchell - and Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), an amoral press agent willing to do anything to climb the social ladder.

Winchell was a staunch supporter of Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusades during the early 1950s. He still had his radio and television shows when Ernest Lehman’s novella first circulated, transparently depicting him as a power-mad monster. By 1957, Winchell had lost his shows and McCarthy had been discredited - but still no studio wanted anything to do with the project.

Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (co-founded by Burt Lancaster) financed and produced it entirely outside the major studio system. The independent production company had already won four Academy Awards - including Best Picture - for Marty (1955).

The screenplay, initially drafted by Lehman, was completed by Clifford Odets - the legendary leftist playwright who had named names before the House Un-American Activities Committee and whose career had never recovered.

Odets hung out with Winchell's crowd to absorb the atmosphere. The result is some of the most caustic and rhythmically precise dialogue in American cinema.

Lancaster - who frequently challenged director Alexander Mackendrick's vision - cut a version without him. When he found his own work wanting, he called the director back to fix the ending.

The film was shot entirely on location in New York City by James Wong Howe, one of the greatest cinematographers in Hollywood history. The score was by Elmer Bernstein, featuring the Chico Hamilton Quintet.

Sweet Smell of Success lost at least $400,000 (equivalent to almost $5 million today) on its initial release. It received no Academy Award nominations.

Indeed, success eluded the film until 1993, when the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, officially anointing it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

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Sweet Smell of Success was produced by James Hill under the independent production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (HHL) and was distributed by United Artists.