3 Key Films: Sidney Lumet
In 3 Key Films, I recommend a trio of movies to introduce you to a director, actor, or movement.
When I first read ‘Making Movies’, director Sidney Lumet’s memoir and filmmaking guide, I hadn’t seen any of his films. A few years on, I’ve caught up on his work, re-read the book, and realized he’s one of the most underrated directors of all time.
Lumet’s prolific career spanned genres, from the courtroom drama to thrillers and dark comedies, but one thing that connects all of his work is a sense of gritty realism, taken from his roots on stage. A great actor’s director, Lumet portrayed every character sympathetically — as humans with natural flaws and virtues. It’s fitting that, while he never won his own Academy Award, his films have allowed four actors to carry home an Oscar. A selfless artist.
These 3 films, in chronological order, are the perfect way to introduce yourself to the work of Sidney Lumet:
12 Angry Men (1957)
His first film after working off-Broadway and on TV, 12 Angry Men, is subtle and deeply philosophical. Henry Fonda plays a virtuous man on a jury struggling to find a unanimous vote.
Almost the entire movie takes place inside a claustrophobic space, the first of many films Lumet would make that occurs in a single day or setting. As outlined in Making Movies, Lumet’s camera angles change over the film’s duration, from high and wide to low and close up, visualizing the shift in morality of the 12 jurors. This video by filmscalpel shows how the film tells one story through dialogue and another through images alone:
Watch 12 Angry Men to see both the genesis of Lumet’s cinematic technique and a gripping fable about mercy and individuality.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
What surprised me about Dog Day Afternoon was how funny it is. The film is based on a real story, about a botched bank robbery attempted by Al Pacino’s Sonny and John Cazale’s Sal. Sonny needs the money for his lover Leon’s sex reassignment surgery; the premise is tragic, but how it develops is comic.
Because Lumet truly understood humanity, its passion and fallibility, and because Pacino and Cazale could convey such a depth of emotion, Dog Day Afternoon is simultaneously hilarious and touching, a comedy of errors encased in a crime drama.
And the film is technically daring too. ‘Making Movies’ tells of how it is full of improvisations — ‘Wyoming’ and ‘ATTICA!’ are iconic — and visual tricks, like the changing colour filters used to mimic the passing of hot summer day into a humid blue night.
Watch Dog Day Afternoon to see Lumet’s humour at its finest, and iconic performances from Pacino and Cazale.
Network (1976)
Having shown how he can take on American justice and American crime, Lumet scathingly depicted the American media and TV news with Network.
The famous speech by Peter Finch’s TV news anchor Howard Beale, roaring ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’, could be presented as pure horror, a man dramatically breaking apart. But Lumet’s film is a black, black comedy. He might be ‘mad as hell’, but we see families repeat his words, screaming them into the street. Meanwhile, the polemic is intercut with producer Diana, played by Faye Dunaway, doing her job: getting higher ratings, using outrage as fuel.
Network was incredibly prophetic, presenting TV news on a path to a transformation into reality TV, as the integrity of journalism succumbs to the wisdom of the crowd. 2014’s Nightcrawler, almost four decades on, may be more modern, but it echoes Network in its crux: ‘if it bleeds it leads.’
Watch Network to see Lumet scathingly critique the media while proving his darkly comic ability.
