Sidney Lumet

  • Sidney Lumet – Vu du Pont AKA A View from the Bridge (1961)

    Sidney Lumet1961-1970ClassicsDramaUSA
    Vu du Pont (1961)
    Vu du Pont (1961)

    Sidney Lumet’s pretty brilliant film version of Arthur Miller’s play, starring Raf Vallone in a shattering performance as troubled Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone. Interesting genesis here: The film was actually shot in Italy, its original IMDB title is French, and the cast is a surprising international mix.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – Q & A (1990)

    Drama1981-1990CrimeSidney LumetUSA

    Dirty cop, Mike Brennan thinks he got away with murder. But during a routine Q&A, the righteous assistant DA finds a clue that sets them both on a collision course.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – The Offence (1973)

    USA1971-1980CrimeSidney LumetThriller

    Synopsis:
    In Sidney Lumet’s harrowing portrayal of police brutality, Detective Sergeant Johnson has been with the British Police Force for 20 years. In that time, the countless murders, rapes and other serious crimes he has had to investigate has left a terrible mark on him. His anger and aggression that had been suppressed for years finally surfaces when interviewing a suspect, Baxter, whom Johnson is convinced is the man that has been carrying out a series of brutal attacks on young girls. Throughout the interview Johnson brutally beats Baxter and during this ordeal he inadvertently reveals that the state of his own mind is probably no better than that of the offenders who committed the crimes that disgusted Johnson originally.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – Deathtrap (1982)

    1981-1990CrimeMysteryQueer Cinema(s)Sidney LumetUSA

    To make Sidney’s slump all the more painful, Clifford Anderson, a student of one of Sidney’s writing seminars, has recently sent his mentor a copy of his first attempt at playwrighting for Sidney’s review and advice. The play, “Deathtrap,” is a five character, two act thriller so perfect in its construction that, as Sidney says, “A gifted director couldn’t even hurt it.” Using his penchant for plot, and out of his desperate desire to once again be the toast of Broadway, Sidney, along with Myra, cook up an almost unthinkable scheme: They’ll lure the would-be playwright to the Bruhl home, kill him, and market the sure-fire script as Sidney’s own. But shortly after Clifford arrives, it’s clear that things are not what they seem! Indeed, even Helga Ten Dorp, a nosey psychic from next door, and Porter Milgram, Sidney’s observant attorney, can only speculate where the line between truth and deception lies.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet & Joseph L. Mankiewicz – King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis (1970)

    1961-1970DocumentaryJoseph L. MankiewiczSidney LumetUSA

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis

    King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery To Memphis is a 1970 American documentary film biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., presented in the form of newsreel footage and segments of recordings by Dr. King, framed by celebrity narrators, including Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ruby Dee, James Earl Jones, Clarence Williams III, Burt Lancaster, Ben Gazzara, Charlton Heston, Harry Belafonte, The movie was produced by Richard Kaplan and Ely Landau.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – The Pawnbroker (1964)

    Drama1961-1970ClassicsSidney LumetUSA

    Synopsis:
    In a poor neighborhood of New York, the bitter and lonely Jewish pawnbroker Sol Nazerman is a survivor from Auschwitz that has no emotions or feelings. Sol lost his dearest family and friends in the war and his faith in God and belief in mankind. Now he only cares for money and is haunted by daydreams, actually flashbacks from the period of the concentration camp. Sol’s assistant is the ambitious Latino Jesus Ortiz, who wants to learn with Sol how to run a business of his own. When Sol realizes that the obscure laundry business he has with the powerful gangster Rodriguez comes also from brothels, Sol recalls the fate of his beloved wife in the concentration camp and has a nervous breakdown. His attitude leads Jesus Ortiz to tragedy and Sol finds a way to cry.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – 12 Angry Men (1957)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaSidney LumetUSA

    Synopsis:
    A Puerto Rican youth is on trial for murder, accused of knifing his father to death. The twelve jurors retire to the jury room, having been admonished that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Eleven of the jurors vote for conviction, each for reasons of his own. The sole holdout is Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda. As Fonda persuades the weary jurors to re-examine the evidence, we learn the backstory of each man. Juror #3 (Lee J. Cobb), a bullying self-made man, has estranged himself from his own son. Juror #7 (Jack Warden) has an ingrained mistrust of foreigners; so, to a lesser extent, does Juror #6 (Edward Binns). Jurors #10 (Ed Begley) and #11 (George Voskovec), so certain of the infallibility of the Law, assume that if the boy was arrested, he must be guilty. Juror #4 (E.G. Marshall) is an advocate of dispassionate deductive reasoning. Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – Play of the Week: The Dybbuk (1960)

    1951-1960DramaSidney LumetTVUSA

    The Dybbuk is a made for TV film adaptation of a classic Jewish folktale. The story is about a young Jewish man, Sender (Theodore Bikel) who loves a young Jewish woman, Leah (Carol Lawrence) but her father arranges her marriage with another man. The grief of this causes Sender to die, but his spirit passes into the body of his beloved on her wedding day. Rabbi Azrael (Ludwig Donath), who serves as our narrator through the beginning of the film, is charged with the task of exercising Sender’s Dybbuk (sometimes defined as a malicious spirit or demon who possesses the living) from Leah’s body.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – Fail-Safe (1964)

    1961-1970Sci-FiSidney LumetThrillerUSA

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    Synopsis
    When a military computer error deploys a squadron of SAC bombers to destroy Moscow, the American President (Fonda) tries to call them back. But their sophisticated fail-safe system prevents him from aborting the attack, so he must convince the Soviets not to retaliate. In desperation, the President offers to sacrifice an American city if his pilots succeed in their deadly mission over Moscow. A four-star techno-thriller that builds tension and suspense with every tick of the nuclear clock.
    Read More »

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