RIP Sidney Lumet (1924-2011)

[CaptainCanada]

New York Times

Lumet made one of the most successful directorial debuts in history with 12 Angry Men in 1957, and continued making movies until 2007, though 1982's The Verdict is the last of his really big ones. Along the way we got Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Pawnbroker, Serpico, Murder on the Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network.

He was nominated for Best Director four times, and Best Adapted Screenplay once, and was given the Honourary Oscar in 2005 to make up for it. When I did my poll of Oscar-winning performance directors, he was tied with Hal Ashby, James L. Brooks, Jonathan Demme, and John Huston for fifth place.

 

[Goliath]

Aw, crap.

Lumet was a great filmmaker. RIP.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Crap, one of my favorite directors.

As a matter of fact, I recently bought Dog Day Afternoon on DVD. I didn't expect that I'd watch it to commemorate its director though.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Wow. What a downer. I was just thinking recently that I need to see more of his movies because along with Billy Wilder, he's by far the most consistent director I've ever seen. Almost every director who has done a movie I love has also made at least one (usually several) that I didn't like, but this guy was one of the few who never let me down.

Just a tremendously talented and versatile man with impeccable taste in choosing his projects. "12 Angry Men" is minimalist film making at its finest (and most powerful) and "Network" is an unforgettable masterpiece of scathing social commentary. God bless him.

 

[Starbreaker]

Aw man.. just watched Serpico for a film class a couple of years ago and really liked some of his other work.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

A terrible loss. He's one of my favorite directors.

And to think, just a couple of weeks ago I thought to myself "Sidney Lumet really needs to make another film..."

Rest in peace.

 

[arch101]

The Verdict is a work of art. Lumet and Newman, what a team.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Running On Empty is my favorite movie of his. He got great perfomances out of the cast, especially River Phoenix who was nominated for a best supporting actor oscar that year. It's pretty amazing that he was still directing films up until a few years ago.

Rest in peace.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

R.I.P. sir.

 

[J.T.B.]

Another of the greats. Not everything he made was gold, but he did make more than his share of great, unforgettable movies.

"Attica! Attica!"

"The matador... the matador..."

"It's my life you fuck!"

RIP, sir.