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RIP Sidney Lumet

Old 04-09-11, 11:15 AM
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RIP Sidney Lumet

The New York Times, among other sites, is reporting that Sidney Lumet has died.

Originally Posted by The New York Times
Sidney Lumet, a director who preferred the streets of New York to the back lots of Hollywood and whose stories of conscience — “12 Angry Men,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Verdict,” “Network” — became modern American film classics, died Saturday morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 86.

His stepdaughter, Leslie Gimbel, said the cause was lymphoma.

"While the goal of all movies is to entertain,” Mr. Lumet once wrote, “the kind of film in which I believe goes one step further. It compels the spectator to examine one facet or another of his own conscience. It stimulates thought and sets the mental juices flowing.”

Social issues set his own mental juices flowing, and his best films not only probed the consequences of prejudice, corruption and betrayal but also celebrated individual acts of courage.

. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/mo...t-86.html?_r=2
He was responsible for a heck of a lot of good and great films.

I think I might do a double-feature of "12 Angry Men" and "Network" today (or maybe I'll watch something of his that I've never seen before.)

Last edited by Sondheim; 04-09-11 at 11:26 AM.
Old 04-09-11, 11:16 AM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Sad to hear. RIP.
Old 04-09-11, 11:18 AM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

He was one of the best directors America ever produced.

It's a shame he isn't known as such. Instead, other mediocre directors who make crowd-pleasing 'blockbusters' get mentioned as such.
Old 04-09-11, 11:32 AM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

That's too bad. While not likely to be remembered as one of this top 2 or 3 directorial efforts, but for me he will always be very fondly associated with Running on Empty.
Old 04-09-11, 11:34 AM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Old 04-09-11, 12:03 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

So many of my favorite films are from Lumet. He even directed a film with my first name as the title. He will be sorely missed.
Old 04-09-11, 12:28 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

suprmallet? I...I don't see that in his filmography...

on topic:
Damn...I was actually wondering when this was going to happen..he was getting up there in age.
Old 04-09-11, 12:38 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Originally Posted by Dr Mabuse
He was one of the best directors America ever produced.

It's a shame he isn't known as such. Instead, other mediocre directors who make crowd-pleasing 'blockbusters' get mentioned as such.
He really was.

I keep forgetting just how many films he's done that are among my all time favorites.

Spoiler:
Director (72 titles)
2007 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

2006 Find Me Guilty

2004 Rachel, quand du seigneur (short)

2004 Strip Search (TV movie)

2001-2002 100 Centre Street (TV series)
– It's About Love (2002)
– Give Up or Fight (2002)
– Daughters (2001)
– Kids: Part 2 (2001)
– Kids: Part 1 (2001)
See all 9 episodes »

1999 Gloria

1997 Critical Care

1996 Night Falls on Manhattan

1993 Guilty as Sin

1992 A Stranger Among Us

1990 Q & A (also as Alan Smithee: television prints)

1989 Family Business

1988 Running on Empty

1986 The Morning After

1986 Power

1984 Garbo Talks

1983 Daniel

1982 The Verdict

1982 Deathtrap

1981 Prince of the City

1980 Just Tell Me What You Want

1978 The Wiz

1977 Equus

1976 Network

1975 Dog Day Afternoon

1974 Murder on the Orient Express

1974 Lovin' Molly

1973 Serpico

1972 Child's Play

1972 The Offence

1971 The Anderson Tapes

1970 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (documentary)

1970 Last of the Mobile Hot Shots

1969 The Appointment

1968 The Sea Gull

1968 Bye Bye Braverman

1966 The Deadly Affair

1966 The Group

1965 The Hill

1964 Fail-Safe

1964 The Pawnbroker

1962 Long Day's Journey Into Night

1962 Vu du pont

1960 Play of the Week (TV series)
– Rashomon (1960)
– The Iceman Cometh: Part 2 (1960)
– The Iceman Cometh: Part 1 (1960)
– The Dybbuk (1960)

1960 Rashomon (TV movie)

1960 The Iceman Cometh (TV movie)

1960 John Brown's Raid (TV movie)

1960 Sunday Showcase (TV series)
– The Sacco-Vanzetti Story: Part 2 (1960)
– The Sacco-Vanzetti Story: Part 1 (1960)

1960 The Fugitive Kind

1960 Playhouse 90 (TV series)
– The Hiding Place (1960)
– John Brown's Raid (1960)

1959 That Kind of Woman

1957-1958 The DuPont Show of the Month (TV series)
– The Count of Monte Cristo (1958)
– Beyond This Place (1957)

1958 Kraft Theatre (TV series)
– All the King's Men: Part 2 (1958)
– All the King's Men: Part 1 (1958)
– Fifty Grand (1958)
– Three Plays by Tennessee Williams: Moony's Kid Don't Cry (1958)
– Three Plays by Tennessee Williams: The Last of My Solid Gold Watches (1958)
See all 7 episodes »

1958 All the King's Men (TV movie)

1958 Stage Struck

1958 Hallmark Hall of Fame (TV series)
– Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates (1958)

1957 The Seven Lively Arts (TV series)
– The Changing Ways of Love (1957)

1957 Studio One in Hollywood (TV series)
– The Deaf Heart (1957)

1957 Producers' Showcase (TV series)
– Mr. Broadway (1957)

1957 Mr. Broadway (TV movie)

1957 12 Angry Men

1957 Omnibus (TV series)
– School for Wives (1957)

1956 Goodyear Playhouse (TV series)
– The Sentry (1956)

1956 The Alcoa Hour (TV series)
– Finkle's Comet (1956)
– Man on Fire (1956)
– Tragedy in a Temporary Town (1956)
– Long After Summer (1956)

1955 The United States Steel Hour (TV series)
– Incident in an Alley (1955)
– The Meanest Man in the World (1955)

1955 Frontier (TV series)
– In Nebraska (1955)

1955 The Elgin Hour (TV series)
– Mind Over Momma (1955)
– Crime in the Streets (1955)

1954-1955 The Best of Broadway (TV series)
– Stage Door (1955)
– The Show-Off (1955)
– The Philadelphia Story (1954)

1953-1955 You Are There (TV series)
– The Liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944) (1955)
– The Gettysburg Address (1953)
– The Recognition of Michelangelo (1953)
– The Dreyfus Case (1953)
– The Death of Socrates (399 B.C.) (1953)
See all 8 episodes »

1951-1953 Danger (TV series)
– Subpoena (1953)
– No Room (1953)
– Car Pool (1953)
– The System (1952)
– The Lady on the Rock (1951)
See all 7 episodes »

1952 CBS Television Workshop (TV series)
– Don Quixote (1952)

1951 Crime Photographer (TV series)


Network blew my mind when I finally saw it 6 or 7 years ago. It's the reason I no longer own a TV. Can't say much about his work post '82 as I haven't seen any of it, but The Verdict is one of Newman's best films and often gets lost in the shuffle of both their filmographies.
Didn't realize he did The Wiz either.
Old 04-09-11, 12:39 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Great career. So many wonderful movies. RIP.
Old 04-09-11, 12:53 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

If you guys haven't read it, I highly recommend his book, Making Movies. Really illuminating stuff.
Old 04-09-11, 01:08 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Originally Posted by Suprmallet
He even directed a film with my first name as the title.
Originally Posted by Solid Snake PAC
suprmallet? I...I don't see that in his filmography...
Nah, his real name is Serpico.
Old 04-09-11, 01:18 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

One of the U.S.'s greatest. I just rewatched The Verdict a couple of weeks ago.
Old 04-09-11, 01:25 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

I was just discussing this with someone, and noted how happy I was 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' was his final film.

Like a little reminder of what a master can do with a movie as a parting work.

Quite a few of the 'Oscar winning genius' hacks that come up in any 'best American directors' discussions will never make a film on that level.
Old 04-09-11, 01:37 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

RIP, indeed.

You can stack up Sidney Lumet's career against any of the more acclaimed great directors. So many fine films, and I think it can be well-argued that he was the best American director of the last half of the 20th century (along with Kubrick and Scorsese). It is a pity that he isn't as well-known as he should be.

I just watched The Hill a few weeks ago, which is in itself a great film that few people remember and doesn't get mentioned much even when discussing Lumet. The man was a damn fine filmmaker, and extremely versatile in the types and styles of films he made.
Old 04-09-11, 01:52 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Ebert just posted this.

Sidney Lumet: In memory

BY ROGER EBERT / April 9, 2011

Sidney Lumet was one of the finest craftsmen and warmest humanitarians among all film directors. He was not only a great artist but a much-loved man. When the news of his death at 86 arrived on Saturday, it came as a shock, because he had continued so long to be so productive.

Of his final film, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007), I wrote: "This is a movie, I promise you, that grabs you and won't let you think of anything else. It's wonderful when a director like Lumet wins a Lifetime Achievement Oscar at 80, and three years later makes one of his greatest achievements." Like many of his films, it went on my list of the year's ten best.

Although he was not as widely known to the general public as directors like Scorsese, Spielberg, Eastwood and Spike Lee, his films were at the center of our collective memories. To name only a few of their titles is to suggest the measure of his gift:

"Network." "Dog Day Afternoon." "12 Angry Men." "Serpico." "Prince of the City." "The Pawnbroker." "Fail-Safe." "Long Day's Journey into Night." "The Verdict."

Most of his films were set in his native New York City. Although he was nominated four times as best director, he never won an Academy award until his honorary Oscar; that may have been partly because he was not part of the Hollywood community but preferred a milieu he understood inside-out.

He was a thoughtful director, who gathered the best collaborators he could find and channeled their resources into a focused vision. He shared his thoughts about that in his 1996 book "Making Movies." If you care to read only one book about the steps in the making of a film, make it that one. There is not a boast in it, not a word of idle puffery. It is all about the work.

To say he lacked a noticeable visual style is a compliment. He reduced every scene to its necessary elements, and filmed them, he liked to say, "invisibly." You should not be thinking about the camera. He wanted you to think about the characters and the story.

Sidney Lumet was born June 24, 1924, in Philadelphia, the son of Polish immigrants who were actors in the Yiddish theater. The boy was onstage from his earliest years. After service in World War Two, he began to direct in small New York companies and then moved in on the ground floor in the new medium of television.

Lumet, like such contemporaries as Arthur Penn and John Frankenheimer, was a key director in the golden age of live TV drama. He was an early director for Edward R. Murrow's "You Are There." His first feature was "12 Angry Men," considered the best of all filmed dramas about a criminal trial. It had a visual style (he slowly lowered the POV of view as tension increased), but, typically, audiences were not aware of it.

In 1962 he filmed a historic adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night," and in 1964 launched Rod Steiger's movie career with "The Pawnbroker." Film followed film, many of them based on ethical issues, although he preferred to deeply embody his messages instead of stating them obviously.

Other strong films followed. In addition to his most famous titles, these had my special admiration: "Daniel," "Power," "Q&A," "Critical Care" and "Gloria." He remained remarkably youthful, and in 2006 was able to see the serious dramatic potential of Vin Diesel, dismissed as an action star, and use it for a remarkable performance in "Find Me Guilty," the story of a Mafioso trial.

Lumet was married four times, to the actress Rita Game; the heiress Gloria Vanderbilt; Gail Jones, daughter of Lena Horne; and, in 1980, to Mary Gimbel, who survives him. He is also survived by Amy and Jenny Lumet, his daughters by Miss Jones; a stepson, Bailey Gimbel; nine grandchildren and a great grandson. Jenny Lumet went into the family business, as an actress and the author of the award-winning screenplay for Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" (2008).

The cause of death, his wife said, was lymphoma. The tears shed at his memorial services will be genuine.
To think of the hacks that have 'Best Director' Oscars and compare them to Lumet. A joke.
Old 04-09-11, 01:56 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

One of the greatest directors the medium has ever seen. Rest in peace.
Old 04-09-11, 02:08 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Originally Posted by Dr Mabuse
To think of the hacks that have 'Best Director' Oscars and compare them to Lumet. A joke.
Give it a rest, please. We get it.

I always looked forward to another one of Lumet's films. RIP.
Old 04-09-11, 02:22 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Enjoyed immensely 12 Angry Men and Fail Safe.

Didn't care for the rest of his work. (Including Dog Day, which is massively over-hyped, IMO.)

Old 04-09-11, 02:25 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Originally Posted by CharlieK
Give it a rest, please. We get it.


Maybe I laid it on a little thick there.
Old 04-09-11, 02:44 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

A great director...he will be missed
Old 04-09-11, 02:44 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Originally Posted by TimeandTide
Didn't care for the rest of his work. (Including Dog Day, which is massively over-hyped, IMO.)

Man, I couldn't disagree with you more. I think Dog Day Afternoon is Pacino's single best performance. That film is riveting.
Old 04-09-11, 02:53 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Sad to see him go, but I'm glad he was able to go out on a good film (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) - he was a true American original.
Old 04-09-11, 03:33 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

RIP, he was one of the great ones.
Old 04-09-11, 03:38 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

Sad news...
Old 04-09-11, 03:44 PM
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Re: RIP Sidney Lumet

To say he lacked a noticeable visual style is a compliment. He reduced every scene to its necessary elements, and filmed them, he liked to say, "invisibly." You should not be thinking about the camera. He wanted you to think about the characters and the story.
This is what I really miss in so much contemporary filmmaking. If it's not self conscious, self aggrandizing camera work (of which the shaky cam is the most extreme example), then you get that cliched, cartoony teal/orange color grading- sometimes both at the same time.
Which makes it all the more disappointing to see another classical storyteller pass on...

Great eulogy as usual from RE

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