BEST SIDNEY LUMET MOVIES
“12 Angry Men” (1957) Lumet moved from directing television dramas to guiding theatrical films with this searing jury-deliberation drama (adapted, ironically, from a TV play) produced by principal star Henry Fonda.
“Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (1962) Tackling a (or, to some people, “the”) defining Eugene O’neill work was a brave move for someone still young in his moviemaking, but Lumet drew indelible performances from Katharine Hepburn and Jason Robards.
“Fail-safe” (1964) Fonda worked with Lumet again by playing the U.S. president in this tense drama sparked by a pending, erroneously ordered nuclear attack on Moscow.
“The Pawnbroker” (1964) Rod Steiger is brilliant under Lumet’s direction as a concentration-camp survivor who continues to be haunted by his wartime experiences. “The Hill” (1965) In the first of the multiple movies he made with Lumet, Sean Connery took a very effective break from the world of Agent
007 as an incarcerated British soldier subjected to grueling punishment.
“The Group” (1966) Lumet’s take on Mary Mccarthy’s novel is soap opera of a very high grade, with Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett and Jessica Walter among those depicting the lives and loves of students at a private school pre-world War II.
“Serpico” (1973) A run of holiday-season hits for Lumet over several consecutive years began with the true story of an honest New York police detective (superbly played by Al Pacino) who risked his life by turning informant on corrupt peers. “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975) Pacino and Lumet collaborated on another fact-based tale, the saga of a bank robbery gone extremely awry ... with surprises about the reason behind the attempted heist eventually emerging.
“Network” (1976) Fueled by Paddy Chayefsky’s take-no-prisoners script, the Lumet-directed indictment of the Tv-news business (which time has made seem less like satire) was rewarded with Academy Awards for the writer and performers Peter Finch (posthumously), Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight.
“Deathtrap” (1982) Clever production design and Ira Levin’s stage play make for great gamesmanship between Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve; Turner Classic Movies shows Lumet’s film Friday, April 28.
“The Verdict” (1982) Paul Newman gives arguably his career-high performance for Lumet as a downtrodden lawyer given a chance at personal and professional redemption by a case he decides to try rather than settle.