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Sidney Lumet R.I.P.
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Tom, I always really liked The Verdict (1982) too. I was in nursing school at the time and it had a big impact on me.Sidney Lumet directing Dog Day Afternoon (1975).
indeed - a major american director that created an impressive body of work.
DOG DAY AFTERNOON is a great great film. There is just so much good about it, and Pacino just completely blew me away. I just saw NETWORK within the last year, and was equally blown...not to mention thinking how prophetic it is now in the days of reality TV. TWELVE ANGRY MEN I saw in high school, and still remember how good it is 30 years later. (Jeez...am I that old?)Sidney Lumet wrote a book a few years back called "Making Movies", and that's exactly what it's about. It follows the whole process of what happens when a film is being put together. A very informative book, and a must-read for film fans.
tom gave me an assignment to see dog day afternoon a long time ago and i still have not seen it. it's just pacino - i'm not a fan, and have a hard time motivating myself to give it a whirl. but out of respect to lumet, i'm going to make a point of watching it this week.cindy,
one of my friends just LOVES that lumet book - thanks for mentioning it. i've got to check it out someday.
I've always really liked THE VERDICT too.
I liked THE VERDICT too, but I haven't seen it in years. There was something that creeped into Lumet's work in the 1980s, as if they got very self-aware of how "SERIOUS" they were expected to be, and got rather solemn and airless as a result. There are glimmers, of course, in RUNNING ON EMPTY, and I have to admit I've not seen a lot of his output after a certain point. I've never been able to get through PRINCE OF THE CITY, which is supposed to be very good.Phillip, man, I can understand the Pacino issue. DOG DAY AFTERNOON was before Pacino turned into Screamin' Al. Yeah, there are high-volume bits, but I think you'll be surprised at his range in this one. I don't think he ever did anything this good again.
I AM a Pacino fan, but there are times he's little too over the top for even me. He's doing some screaming here as well, but it's completely reasonable in the context of the scenes. His character is young, angry and desperate and that desperation drives him to some histrionics. You still might not like Pacino, but maybe overall you'll find the film worth watching.
I'd like to put a word in for Lumet's The Pawnbroker, with Rod Steiger in one of his finest roles as a Holocaust survivor in NYC. Steiger is just devastaing in the role and the film is exceptionally powerful.
[I probably know the answer to this, but I'll get up on my soapbox anyway...]Why, when no one talks about Lumet's finest moments, does no one mention Power? One wouldn't think a movie about political spin doctors would be gripping, but when I first saw it in 1986 I was entranced. Went back and watched it again a couple of years ago and found it just as fine.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R221UQQQ...
Ah, Kate Capshaw, where have ye gone?
Tom wrote: "Sidney Lumet passed away over the weekend. The director of such fine films as DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK, TWELVE ANGRY MEN, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. His career got..."Amen although Network has a special place in my heart.
Thanks, Robert...hadn't even heard of this one.
I remember POWER when it came out. It was my allergy to Richard Gere that kept me from seeing it.
watched dog day afternoon today, in honor of lumet.it was pretty good - might be hard for some of the younger viewers to get the full impact of the politics of the film, especially when the crowd starts cheering "attica!"
i prefer pacino in the first godfather installment, but this is a pretty good performance. i guess i divide pacino into two categories: before and after the big sideburns. :)
the film drags a bit after the first hour - at that point lumet seems to have used up all the clever devices that lend the film its originality ... but i'm glad i saw it - it belongs in that genre of satisfying films that came out of the new york scene in the early 70's, along with the taking of pelham 123, the french connection, and some of the classic blaxploitation classics like shaft, coffy, and across 110th street.
and i was thinking, as the opening credits rolled - that elton john was just amazing from 1971 - 1973. nice to hear one of his better tunes at the onset.
Attica! OMG. I haven't thought of that in years. Hopefully they'll look it up on the internet.
I went home and watched "12 Angry Men", in his honor, when I heard the news of his demise. One of the first books I read on movie making was "Making Movies" by Sidney Lumet. It is not a "great" book, but it did guide me for a while. It did give me insights into film-making and for that I am eternally grateful to Sidney Lumet. R.I.P
Phillip wrote: "watched dog day afternoon today, in honor of lumet.it was pretty good - might be hard for some of the younger viewers to get the full impact of the politics of the film, especially when the crowd..."
Yay for you, Phillip. Glad you liked it.
Don't you hate it when people keep referring you to a film that you just KNOW you'd detest, then when you see it you start kicking yourself for not seeing it before? STAND BY ME and MANHATTAN were both that way for me. I still haven't been able to force myself to watch FRIED GREEN TOMATOES or STEEL MAGNOLIAS, however.
i did like it - probably more than my post would suggest. it's definitely the period of pacino that i like best ... but i liked him in donnie brasco too, and that was a much later film.
Twelve Angry Men was an incredible movie. It is my favorite of the ones mentioned. A great talent has indeed passed. RIP, sir.
If pressed, I'd have to choose DOG DAY AFTERNOON -- for me a really damn near perfect film. Impeccably written and acted and produced, funny and moving and energetic at all times. It doesn't get better than this.