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Poll

What's your favorite film by Sidney Lumet?

12 Angry Men
22 (44%)
The Fugitive Kind
0 (0%)
Long Day's Journey Into Night
1 (2%)
The Pawnbroker
1 (2%)
Fail-Safe
0 (0%)
The Hill
0 (0%)
The Group
0 (0%)
The Deadly Affair
0 (0%)
The Anderson Tapes
1 (2%)
The Offence
0 (0%)
Serpico
1 (2%)
Murder on the Orient Express
1 (2%)
Dog Day Afternoon
8 (16%)
Network
8 (16%)
Equus
0 (0%)
The Wiz
0 (0%)
Prince of the City
0 (0%)
Deathtrap
0 (0%)
The Verdict
4 (8%)
Daniel
0 (0%)
Garbo Talks
0 (0%)
Power
0 (0%)
The Morning After
0 (0%)
Running on Empty
0 (0%)
Family Business
0 (0%)
Q & A
0 (0%)
A Stranger Among Us
0 (0%)
Guilty as Sin
0 (0%)
Night Falls on Manhattan
0 (0%)
Critical Care
0 (0%)
Gloria
0 (0%)
Find Me Guilty
0 (0%)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2 (4%)
haven't seen any
0 (0%)
don't like any
1 (2%)

Total Members Voted: 49

Author Topic: Lumet, Sidney  (Read 5758 times)

oldkid

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Re: Lumet, Sidney - Director's Best
« Reply #30 on: October 04, 2014, 10:16:24 AM »
Some of the best movies ever:
1. Dog Day Afternoon
2. Network
3. Fail Safe

Excellent:
4. Deathtrap
5. 12 Angry Men
6. Serpico

Good:
7. The Verdict
8. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
« Last Edit: June 28, 2018, 07:56:02 PM by oldkid »
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Lumet, Sidney - Director's Best
« Reply #31 on: May 14, 2015, 11:46:33 AM »
12 Angry Men
Running on Empty
Murder on the Orient Express
Dog Day Afternoon

Network

Corndog

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #32 on: March 29, 2016, 09:00:23 PM »
1. 12 Angry Men (4)
2. Network (3.5)
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #33 on: March 29, 2016, 09:12:23 PM »
12 Angry Men
Serpico
Murder on the Orient Express
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

I had no idea the bottom three were from Lumet until 30 seconds ago. Still a long way to go with this one.
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Totoro

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #34 on: May 29, 2016, 01:53:46 PM »
Dog Day Afternoon (B+)
Long Days Journey Into Night (B+)
12 Angry Men (B+)
Network (C)
Find Me Guilty (D)

With still a whole lot to see.

chardy999

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Re: Lumet, Sidney - Director's Best
« Reply #35 on: May 29, 2016, 02:31:44 PM »
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
12 Angry Men

Dog Day Afternoon
Murder on the Orient Express
Network


I like his direction more than the films. Need to see more.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #36 on: October 12, 2016, 04:31:16 AM »
12 Angry Men
Serpico
Network
Dog Day Afternoon
Murder on the Orient Express
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
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1SO

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #37 on: June 28, 2018, 10:17:55 AM »
Updated Rankings


The Hill (1965)
★ ★ ★ - Okay
I’d like to know when Lumet moved away from carefully planned camerawork towards a more docudrama grit. I like the grit, but I’ve hardly scratched the surface of films blocked and shot like 12 Angry Men. The cinematography of The Hill is superb, greatly enhancing the fine acting instead of just preserving it. As good as the film is, it’s also yet another story of extreme brutality and psychological torture in a prison, one of the most worn out and overused ideas for a film ever.


The Offence (1973)
★ ★ ★ – Good
From a simple premise comes a strange film. Sean Connery plays a detective looking for a child molester. Questioning a suspect, things go terribly wrong when the detective has a mental breakdown. Lumet fractures the narrative beginning with the end of the interrogation and circling back to it several times. There’s a very outdated scene in the middle where we’re meant to feel sorry for Connery while he’s verbally berating his wife - She’s so sympathetic. Blech! – but the investigation into the incident and the climactic full interrogation showcase Lumet’s ability to take a play and make it cinematic while also reaping the benefits of the script’s theatricality. A style of direction very much like what Lumet does later with Equus (1977), which is just as good a film.


Serpico (1973)
★ ★ ★ – Very Good
There’s an odd structure to Serpico, often jumping weeks or months ahead with only Al Pacino’s facial hair and wardrobe to clue you in. I’d say the script is only telling the dramatic highlights, but there’s plenty of down time, especially in the first half. (Do we really need to get to know so much about Serpico’s relationship with the girlfriend who leaves him well before things get intense?)

In the end, the lack of connective tissue hardly matters because Lumet and Pacino are complimenting each other like Scorsese and De Niro. The film captures 70s New York and whips it into atmosphere as dangerous as the slums in City of God. Pacino appears to be given a lot of room to fail big, but his method style is bottled by Lumet into an over-carbonated drink ready to explode. The supporting cast is an endless parade of vaguely familiar faces, and it’s kind of novel to see a cop trying to stay clean against an overwhelmingly corrupt system. I’m surprised the film’s reputation seems to have cooled so much

pixote

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #38 on: June 30, 2018, 06:13:26 PM »
My memories of Serpico are as lukewarm as they are distant. Would be a good one to revisit some day.

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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Lumet, Sidney
« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2018, 08:58:40 AM »
I'd never have thought you would not have watched Serpico yet.
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