Sidney Lumet at 100: The Essential Movies From an American Master

Remembering an American Masterthe book, the documentary, the working style

By Sidney Lumet 2015

Nancy Buirski's documentary, effectively a long interview with Lumet cut against clips; the hosts pair it with his memoir Making Movies as the two texts that frame the episode. Streaming on Amazon Prime.

The 10 essentialsthe greens

12 Angry Men 1957

His first feature, directed at 33 after Henry Fonda saw the TV teleplay and handpicked him. One jury room, and instantly one of the greatest movies ever made, the template for everything after it.

Fail Safe 1964

Cold War nuclear-strike thriller made before Dr. Strangelove; another Fonda-led exercise in building tension inside a closed room. In the Criterion Collection, later remade live on TV by George Clooney.

Serpico 1973

Pacino as the honest cop against a corrupt NYPD. The hosts argue it has aged into being underrated, a rejection of Michael Corleone in both look and performance style.

Murder on the Orient Express 1974

The Agatha Christie all-star caper: Finney, Bergman (who won the Oscar), Connery, Bacall. Lumet reused the real train compartments pulled from the Belgian archives; a $40 million hit.

Dog Day Afternoon 1975

Pacino and John Cazale in the botched bank robbery. 'Attica' was improvised in spirit, and Lumet directed the neighborhood extras to play their own relationships in the crowd.

Network 1976

Paddy Chayefsky's media satire: 'Mad as Hell,' the Ned Beatty boardroom speech, Faye Dunaway on fire, Robert Duvall's Frank Hackett. Lumet ramps the surrealism as it goes.

Prince of the City 1981

Three-hour corruption epic with Treat Williams, cast without Pacino or De Niro on purpose. The hosts' pick for the best police movie ever made; the last 40 minutes shot in near-darkness.

The Verdict 1982

Sean's favorite: Paul Newman's washed-up lawyer, David Mamet's script, and the closing argument shot at a distance instead of in close-up. Arguably Newman's best performance.

Running on Empty 1988

Fugitive radical parents on the run, Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti, and an Oscar-nominated River Phoenix as the piano-prodigy son. What Daniel was reaching for, done straight.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead 2007

Lumet's last film, made at 83. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as brothers who rob their own parents, a dime-store premise that curdles into full Greek tragedy. Albert Finney is very good.

The rest of the filmographyyellows, reds, and the ones that got away

Stage Struck 1958

An early Hollywood assignment the walkthrough passes over quickly.

That Kind of Woman 1959

Lumet 'shotgunned into the Hollywood system,' taking on studio stories that don't quite click. Red.

The Fugitive Kind 1960

Brando in a Tennessee Williams adaptation (Orpheus Descending) with Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward. Hugely celebrated, never a big one for the hosts.

A View from the Bridge 1962

Arthur Miller adaptation, hard to find; possibly on YouTube. Not in.

Long Day's Journey Into Night 1962

His second feature, a three-hour Eugene O'Neill with Katharine Hepburn, nauseating on purpose. Important to Lumet and cited throughout Making Movies, but edged out of the top 10 by 12 Angry Men.

The Pawnbroker 1964

Rod Steiger as a Holocaust survivor. An essential pre-New Hollywood text for its portrayal of trauma and survival; the hosts 'yellow' it.

The Hill 1965

First of five Connery collaborations, a brutal WWII military-prison drama in Libya, and one of Connery's best performances. Near-essential.

The Group 1966

Mary McCarthy adaptation and a sentimental favorite that 'deeply doesn't work,' but they love that he swung at it.

The Deadly Affair 1967

John le Carré adaptation with James Mason as a Smiley figure. A pleasant discovery, sturdy, but not in. On Pluto.

Bye Bye Braverman 1968

His first real comedy, a George Segal picture about being Jewish in New York. Couldn't grab the tone; comedy wasn't his forte.

The Sea Gull 1968

Chekhov with James Mason; unseen by the hosts.

The Appointment 1969

Omar Sharif in Paris, from a James Salter idea. Lumet admitted it wasn't good; he just wanted to shoot in Paris.

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots 1970

Bewildering Tennessee Williams adaptation: James Coburn, Lynn Redgrave, a Quincy Jones score, James Wong Howe photography. Everything says classic; it doesn't cohere.

The Anderson Tapes 1971

Connery heist thriller with Dyan Cannon, a little Hitchcock, a little anti-Bond. Frank Pierson script, very good, but out.

Child's Play 1972

Boarding-school mystery with James Mason after Brando dropped out; the air goes out of it with the recast.

The Offence 1973

Fucked-up Connery psychological thriller about a cop who kills a suspect he believes is a child murderer. Yellow, as good as some films that made the cut.

Lovin' Molly 1974

Larry McMurtry's Leaving Cheyenne as a Texas love triangle: Blythe Danner, Anthony Perkins, Beau Bridges. Lumet, not the bard of Texas. Red.

Equus 1977

Peter Shaffer play adaptation about a psychiatrist and a boy who blinds horses. Acclaimed at the time; the hosts find it an overwrought Greek-myth rehash. Red.

The Wiz 1978

Motown's all-Black Wizard of Oz with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. A flop, a little long, but a crowd-pleaser handed down as a cult classic, at minimum a yellow.

Just Tell Me What You Want 1980

Comedy with Ali MacGraw and Alan King, Lumet licking his wounds after The Wiz. Red.

Deathtrap 1982

Ira Levin thriller with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, a Russian-nesting-doll palate cleanser after Prince of the City. 'Ringer green,' a great time, just not essential.

Daniel 1983

E.L. Doctorow's Rosenberg-adjacent novel, adapted by Doctorow, with Tim Hutton and Amanda Plummer as the executed couple's children. Agonizing and unlike anything else Lumet made, genuinely moving; not Hall of Fame.

Garbo Talks 1984

Anne Bancroft vehicle the hosts didn't get to. Not seen.

Power 1986

Underrated political-fixer drama: Richard Gere as a media consultant, an early Denzel Washington, a deep supporting bench. A big flop.

The Morning After 1986

Lumet's Jane Fonda collaboration, with Jeff Bridges. Rickety but one of Fonda's last real hits; she was Oscar-nominated. Not in.

Family Business 1989

Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick as grandfather, father, and son, three great actors you never buy as related. Fine, not in.

Q&A 1990

Nick Nolte as a monstrous, evil corrupt cop opposite Armand Assante; Lumet also wrote it. A hard, hard watch that makes Prince of the City look hopeful. Yellow.

A Stranger Among Us 1992

Melanie Griffith undercover in a Hasidic community. A stretch, and the first sign the system was getting away from him. Red.

Guilty as Sin 1993

Don Johnson and Rebecca De Mornay in a not-quite-erotic thriller. Watchable, but he's no Adrian Lyne. Not in.

Night Falls on Manhattan 1996

Andy Garcia and Richard Dreyfuss in a NYC-government corruption story Lumet wrote himself, from Robert Daley's Tainted Evidence. The best of his thin 90s stretch, even if the poster says otherwise.

Critical Care 1997

James Spader in a Network-for-healthcare satire that doesn't work, except for the young Jeffrey Wright life-support sequences, shot all in white, which are gorgeous modern art dropped into a bad comedy.

Gloria 1999

Sharon Stone in a remake of the Cassavetes film. Feels duplicative; you just don't need it. Red.

Find Me Guilty 2006

Vin Diesel as a mobster who defends himself across an endless mob trial; Lumet co-wrote it. A near-comedy, very long and deliberately durational, not for the hosts.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Comparisons and asides The French ConnectionOn the WaterfrontRebel Without a CauseDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombBarry LyndonPulp FictionSleuthThe Last of SheilaLonglegsThe Shallows

Nick Nolte's other stretch Cape FearThe Prince of TidesLorenzo's OilBlue ChipsI Love Trouble

Rewatchables lore and vacation viewing The Hunt for Red OctoberInside MovesEncantoDeadpool & Wolverine

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Presumed InnocentThe BearIndustryWe Own This City100 Centre StreetStrip SearchPlayhouse 90You Are There

Books Making Movies

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