Iconic Director Sidney Lumet Dies at 86 - TIME NewsFeed
I studied his films extensively in film school and he is one of the few directors where I can’t say there is a film of his I dislike…well, minus the Wiz shudders Personal favorite is Dog Day Afternoon.
I enjoyed Lumet’s work, especially DDA! 
May he RIP.
Many years after that film was released, I was dating a much older guy who was a reporter. He told me he’d been holed up across the street in a hotel when/where that really went down. He was there through the whole thing covering the story! 
Bella
Great director, and The Wiz was good for what it was. I remember seeing that in the theaters…LOL
I loved Serpico, Running on Empty, 12 Angry Men among others. Dog Day I saw as a kid and it just intrigued the hell out of me…ATTICA! ATTICA!!!
The final scene on the Airport Runway to this day saddens me. He was able to pull you into two pretty pathetic characters, especially John Cazale’s character. I also love that Chris Sarandon played Pacino’s lover who was in need of money for a sex change operation.
While not Lumet’s film, another film similar in that it takes two extremely pathetic characters and makes you empathetic for them is Midnight Cowboy, I’d have to say my all time favorite movie ever.
I never saw Midnight Cowboy, I’ll have to throw that onto my netflix queue. Aside from 12 Angry Men, Dog Day and Serpico, I also loved The Hill and the Anderson Tapes. And Network of course. Seriously, the wiz is the only movie of his that I don’t have a liking for. Time to go back and watch his films.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Midnight Cowboy, and yeah Network is an all time great movie of his too. I didn’t see it until later in life, I’m 44 now, and I saw it on I think Cinimax many years after it was released in the theaters.
That’s one thing I loved about film school. We had a Major figures in cinema class and the year I took it, my professor chose Sidney Lumet, probably one of the best film classes I ever took…minus the one semester where we watched nothing but horror films
All time favorite of his: It’s a tie between 12 Angry Men and Dog day. Pacino’s performance was, well, I hate to use the term that kids these days use but it was epic. Like you said, just the way he kept screaming “Attica! Attica!”
I also loved the issues directors, writers, actors etc took on then. Like Pacino being in love with a man who wanted a sex change. Or even Midnight Cowboy which dealt with gay prostitution and rape and when it was released was considered Rated X. Back then that was an NC17 type rating, the adult indistry co-opted the whole XXX thing.
Or you take a television show like All In The Family and the issues they tackled. Racism, abortion, rape, interracial marriages, transvestites, homosexuality etc. If shows these days were to take on issues that would be “similar” in volatility the networks wouldn’t air them.
The 60’s and 70’s were a great time in the arts, just because of the challenges that artists took to speak their truth.