Sidney Lumet dies at 86

[Hal Smith]

One of our greatest Directors died this morning.

 

Sidney Lumet Obit in NYTimes

[Justin Hayward]

Even though he was eighty six it’s weird, because with his stamina I always thought he’d be working till he was a hundred. I must have read his book, Making Movies ten times.

 

Most unfortunate.

[Justin Hayward]

My top five Sidney Lumet movies;

 

The Verdict

Network

Serpico

Family Business (I have special nostalgia for this one)

And of course, 12 Angry Men

[Hal Smith]

I must have read his book, Making Movies ten times.

 

Anyone who hasn't read it ten times or more spends a lot of time re-inventing the wheel. Sidney was a great writer as well as a great Director.

 

I wonder if his strongest suit in truth might have been his deep understanding of just how important Art Direction is to the ultimate impact of a film. He really understood if it doesn't LOOK right, it's not going to FEEL right. I think that's one of the things he was talking about when he wrote about the importance of style in film.

 

A good pair of examples is "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Murder on the Orient Express". DDA was shot like it could have been a live cut-in on a local television station and MOE was as intensely designed and stylized as a movie can be. Both approaches were absolutely appropriate to their story and perfectly realized.

 

And then it didn't hurt that he always had his pick of great actors wanting to work with him. I wonder if any other Director had as many different Academy Award winning actors in his films over the years.

[Bill DiPietra]

Very sad news, but what a legacy he left behind. One of THE premiere New York directors. Just as Scorsese has always captured the underbelly of the city, no one could tell the stories that happened in its light of day better than Sidney Lumet.