#3. The Killing

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr.

The Killing (1956): After getting out of prison, Johnny Clay masterminds a complex race-track heist, but his scheme is complicated by the intervention of the wife of a teller in on the scheme, the boyfriend of the wife, airport regulations, and a small dog.

#2. The Glass Key

Director:Stuart Heisler
Cast:Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd

The Glass Key (1942): A classic murder mystery, based on the the Dashiell Hammet novel and said to be the inspiration for Kurosawa's Yojimbo. When a corrupt politician is accused of murder, his assistant hunts the real killer, avoiding amorous advances from his boss' fiancee and attacks from gangsters along the way. Ladd and Lake make this a better version than the 1935 film of the same name.

#1. Sweet Smell of Success

Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison

Sweet Smell of Success (1957): J.J. Hunsecker, a powerful New York newspaper columnist, is dead set against his sister's marrying a jazz musician. Sidney Falco, a sleazy PR man, will do anything to get publicity for his clients, and he sees Hunsecker's situation as an opportunity to win the writer's favor. So, he sets out to break up the affair anyway he can.