Sidney Lumet Movies, In Order of Preference

Sidney Lumet. One of the greatest directors of all time. Recently deceased. Made some fucking incredible movies. So I thought it would be fun to do a little tribute to one of my favorites.

7) The Pawnbroker
This film about a holocaust survivor living in New York and managing a pawn shop in Harlem is not the easiest of viewings. It's not "Shindler's List" kind of entertainment. But, dare I say it, I think it's an important film to watch. There aren't many movies that allow the viewer to almost scratch the surface of what it feels like to survive the horrors of the holocaust, and to Lumet's credit, this is one of them. Another one is Shoah by French director Claude Lanzmann. In a 9 hour documentary film, he wears down his subjects so much that he gets to the core of their suffering. Tough to watch, but as he says to them "It's important." Rod Steiger gives an amazingly tortured performance as a man with intense survivor's guilt who tries hard to live his post-camp life repressing all emotions. But try as he might, he is just too traumatized.


6) Serpico

One of Lumet's most celebrated films and hailed as a classic, Al Pacino received an Oscar for his portrayal of Frank Serpico, a New York City cop who speaks against the corruption of the police force. In other words, he snitches. Given how lauded it is, it's actually not my favorite. Not because it's bad, but I know Sidney, he can do better. He doesn't seem to cover the nuances and gray areas of cop corruption like he did later. But that said, Pacino's performance is great and subtle and it's always awesome to see New York City in the 70s.



5) Night Falls over Manhattan

This movie didn't receive a whole lot of attention when it came out, but it's really good. It has an all star cast: Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, James Gandolfini, Richard Dreyfus, and plenty of family drama to go around. This is a story of politics and corruption in New York City. Lumet loves this stuff and he does it well. This movie is solid and entertaining.








4) Before the Devil Knows Your Dead

It is so incredibly good, but I don't think I can handle another viewing. Perhaps that's just me being a wuss. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawk play brothers who decide, intelligently, to rob their parents jewelry store. It doesn't go well. And what ensues is a stressful, sweat-inducing tale of cover-up, drugs, money, infidelity all converging into one. I was exhausted when it ended. That said, I remember distinctly going to the movies in Sag Harbor that day looking for some "light entertainment." My mom was like, oh you just have to see Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, it's sooo good. So perhaps maybe I didn't go in with the proper frame of mind. 


3) Dog Day Afternoon
Pacino does his best Pacino in this film about a bank robbery in Brooklyn gone very, very wrong. Based on a true story, Pacino plays Sonny, a Vietnam vet turned amateur bank robber who is plain out of luck. Sonny is one of those sympathetic anti-heroes (or is he a hero? I don't know) and you really root for him. He's not a bad guy, he just wants some money so his "wife", Leon, can get a sex change operation. He stages a bank robbery, the situation becomes almost absurd.
It's a perfect tragi-comedy.




2) Network

Television will do anything for a rating. This film is ahead of its time in a lot of ways. It paved the road for the Jerry Springers and Howard Sterns of the world, lucky us. Peter Finch plays Howard Beale, a news anchor who is told he's soon going off the air because of poor ratings. But when he starts ranting on national television, ratings spike and he is kept on. I haven't seen this is a long time, but I should because it certainly gets at the heart of exploiting human weakness for the sake of an audience, and the audience who is enthralled by it all. 



1) Prince of The City

In my humble ass opinion, this film is a masterpiece. It's 3 hours + long but every minute of it is riveting. Lumet was really the guy for this job. Treat Williams plays Danny Ciello, a corrupt-ish cop who is approached by Internal Affairs to talk about corruption in the department. He decides to collaborate on the condition that he says nothing about his partners: "I sleep with my wife, but I live with my partners." But as he talks, stories become intertwined and he's faced with moral dilemmas that he didn't expect. This film was criminally overlooked when it was released in 1982, and it's still one of the most underrated films I know. Treat Williams was such a promising actor and it's a shame that his career derailed when he got mixed up in drugs. If you like cop stories, if you're interested in political corruption and if you love New York, you have to see this.