[Editor’s note: The following includes spoilers for “Sugar.”]
“Sugar” is a neo-noir television series set in modern-day Los Angeles, featuring private investigator John Sugar (Colin Farrell) who, in addition to being very good at his job, is also a huge movie buff. Sugar’s latest case, to find the missing granddaughter of legendary movie producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell), only sends him even further down the path of Hollywood lore.
Throughout the eight episodes of Season 1, Sugar’s journey to find Olivia reminds him of scenes from some of his favorite classic films, which are intercut into the series as if we are seeing little flashes of what is racing through Sugar’s mind.
“It was all done after the fact, so I had no idea until I saw it how many [and] which clips [they used],” Farrell told IndieWire, adding he was pleasantly surprised to see himself juxtaposed with some of his all-time favorite films, like “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Maltese Falcon.” “It’s a really fun alignment for me, as a lover of film and a lover of this story.”
Intercutting scenes from classic films was the brainchild of director Fernando Meirelles and editor Fernando Stutz, and you can read more about their bold use of archival footage here, but below is a full breakdown of every film that appears in “Sugar,” including a description of how and where those scenes are used in the series. Some are don’t-blink-or-you-will-miss-it flashes of classic films; some make direct connections between Sugar’s story and that of classic characters played by Humphrey Bogart, Glenn Ford, and Burt Lancaster.
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin
“Sugar” Episode 1: Ruby (Kirby) gives Sugar (Colin Farrell) the gun Glenn Ford used in “The Big Heat,” with the hope his love classic movies will outweigh his hatred of guns. The scene is intercut with images of the revenge-filled Police Sgt. Dave Bannion (Ford) using the gun.
Director: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Ralph Meeker, Gaby Rogers
“Sugar,” Episode 1: As Sugar drives away from Ruby’s house, shots of him driving are intercut with footage of Detective Mike Hammer (Meeker) motoring through L.A. in his Corvette. “Kiss Me Deadly” will make a more significant appearance later “Sugar” episodes.
Director: Nicolas Ray
Cast: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge
“Sugar,” Episode 1: Tracking down Melanie (Amy Ryan) at the Steph-Hi Louge, Sugar tries a new whiskey the bartender recommends. His drinking is intercut with a brief flash of Johnny Guitar (Hayden) taking a shot in Ray’s gender-bending western.
Director: Charles Vidor
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready
“Sugar,” Episode 1: As Sugar drinks with Melanie, he explains why he enjoys alcohol despite his inability to get drunk. “The romance of it, I guess. I get that from the movies,” says Sugar, and as he does Glenn Ford makes another appearance, this time as Johnny Farrell toasting Gilda (Hayworth).
Director: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas
“Sugar,” Episode 1: Sugar brings a very drunk Melanie home and gets her settled on her couch. Before leaving, he flips on a classic movie channel and a scene featuring Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas from “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” comes on. Sugar remarks to a passed out Melanie, “You’re in for a treat.”
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson
“Sugar,” Episode 2: The episode begins with the iconic image of screenwriter Joe Gillis (Holden) dead in the pool. This famous opening scene from “Sunset Boulevard,” which triggers Gillis to narrate the story of how he ended up there, is a nifty juxtaposition to Sugar doing laps in his hotel pool and mulling (narrating) the details of his own investigation and the treacherous events (finding a dead body in the trunk of Olivia’s car) of the first episode.
Director: John Cromwell
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lizbeth Scott, Morris Carnovsky
“Sugar,” Episode 2: This episode is heavy on the Bogart, using three different films starring the great actor. First up is “Dead Reckoning,” as Rip Murdock’s (Bogart) investigatiion into the mysterious past of his dead war hero friend is interweaved with Sugar investigating the disappearance of Olivia.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, George Macready, John Derek
“Sugar,” Episode 2: Scenes of Sugar interviewing Olivia’s friends are intercut with Attorney Andrew Morton (Bogart), who uses an unorthodox approach in defending his gangster client accused of murder.
Director: Buster Keaton
Cast: Buster Keaton
“Sugar,” Episode 2: Melanie speaking to her Alcoholics Anonymous group says, “Here we live in a world where millions of people all with the capacity to love and be loved and somehow we just can’t get our shit together.” As she talks, Sugar’s mind races through recent events, but also old movies. A shot of Buster Keaton’s saddened face is poignant in the context of Melanie’s words and Sugar’s subjective montage of memories.
Director: Nicolas Ray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame
“Sugar,” Episode 2: Following the image of Buster Keaton (above), Sugar’s mind drifts to “In a Lonely Place” as Melanie continues to talk to her Alcoholics Anonymous group. The significance of the footage here is layered as Laurel Gray (Grahame) helplessly watches the alcoholic she loves (Bogart) fall into despair.
Director: John Cassavetes
Cast: Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery
“Sugar,” Episode 2: Sugar takes in a movie, and the series deviates from its steady diet of postwar black & white films to include a 1970s color indie from John Cassavetes, as his great leading lady and wife Gena Rowlands delivers an incredible monologue as Minnie. “I believe movies are a conspiracy,” says Minnie. “They you set up from the time you are a little kid. They set you up to believe in everything, from ideals, and strength, and good guys.”
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake
“Sugar,” Episode 2: In a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss it use of old films, Ulmer’s B-movie gem plays on the TV in the background as Sugar pays a visit to a Hollywood motel at night.
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Cast: Justus D. Barnes, G. M. Anderson, Walter Cameron
“Sugar,” Episode 2: The silent film plays in the background over Sugar’s shoulder at his hotel. Porter’s film for the Edison Manufacturing Company was one the earliest and most successful genre movies: a heist film, featuring two bandits who rob a steam engine in the old west, in a story that mirrored the real-life details of infamous robber Butch Cassidy.
Director: Robert Siodmak
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien
“Sugar,” Episode 3: Stallings (Eric Lange) is trying to get the truth about what happened to one of his men from Melanie and Teresa Vasquez (Cher Alvarez), threatening to put Teresa’s hand in a blender. The threat of torture is cross-cut with Sugar racing to Teresa’s apartment. Sugar’s efforts to break in are intercut with images of The Swede (Lancaster) from “The Killers,” the noir classic based on a story by Ernest Hemingway.
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
“Sugar,” Episode 3: As Sugar gets ready to go out for the evening, Wiley the Dog watches “Double Indemnity” on the TV. “Oh man, it’s a good one,” says Sugar commenting on the movie, which he sits down to watch, clearly wishing he could stay home with Wiley rather than go to the social event Ruby is hosting.
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan
“Sugar,” Episode 4: Sugar visits Dr. Vickers to get checked out, and makes reference to the scene in “The Thing” where Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) removes a [spoiler] from the chest of Norris (Charles Hallahan).
Director: Carol Reed
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton
“Sugar,” Episode 4: Sugar and Melanie go to Silver Lake to show Olivia’s photo around local businesses where Melanie saw Olivia having an intense discussion with another woman. Their investigation is intercut with Holly Martins’ (Joseph Cotton) search for Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in the noir classic “The Third Man.”
Director: Cirio H. Santiago
Cast: Jeannie Bell, Stan Shaw, Pat Anderson
“Sugar,” Episode 4: In the background behind Stallings’ men, the 1974 blaxploitation film “TNT Jackson” is on TV.
Director: Charles Laughton
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
“Sugar,” Episode 5: Sugar narrowly saves Melanie, who barricaded herself in her bathroom to protect herself from one of Stallings’ goons. Sugar goes beyond disarming the man, punching him repeatedly. The flurry of punches are intercut with old movie footage; the first image is a flash of Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum),from “The Night of the Hunter” scene where Powell gives his famous “Love/Hate” speech. Both the scene and speech will return later in the series.
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles
“Sugar,” Episode 5: While Sugar repeatedly punches Stallings’ goons (see above), flashes of extreme close-ups of Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) are intercut. Quinlan is a character consumed by anger and loss, which drive him to do evil things. Later, images of Susan (Janet Leigh) and Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) with Quinlan are intercut into the scene following Sugar’s burst of violence.
IndieWire will keep updating this article as new “Sugar” episodes air.
