sidney lumet search and destroy etc

Furthermore (if anyone cares) I saw the film at a cinema located three blocks from where the film was shot (The Nitehawk Cinema in Park Slope, Brooklyn). And FURTHERmore there is a hot dog joint more or less across the street from where the “bank” was, called Dog Day Afternoon.

It really is a great movie to see in Brooklyn. (I saw it at BAM in 2009, not long after I moved into the neighborhood.)

And yes, Dog Day Afternoon is hands down my favorite Lumet film. I think his filmography can be a little all over the place, but even when the films themselves are a bit lacking, he usually gets the best out of his performers.

My other favorites:

The TV production of The Iceman Cometh - Jason Robards's performance is legendary and rightfully so. One of the best I've ever seen.

Long Day's Journey Into Night - Another O'Neill classic, both plays mean a lot to me, and they're both done so well. Again, a legendary cast and rightfully so.

Prince of the City - saw this again after Treat Williams's death, he actually did a Q&A for this movie at Metrograph several years ago. Really nice guy. A good double feature with Serpico, but as wonderful as Pacino's performance may be, I actually think Prince of the City is the better film.

The Verdict - I thought this was just okay when I first saw it in high school, but I revisited it during the pandemic and was surprised by how much more it resonated. Lumet's great theme is institutional corruption, and it's richly detailed here. It made me think of the moral dilemmas that every law graduate I know just went through - what to do with a law degree, which typically loses out to status and financial considerations - and I get the sense that those problems grew exponentially during the '80s all the way to the present day. The film came out in 1982 and you see this already taking root - it's not just Newman trying to redeem himself and win for his client, he's also fighting against a future that's already been lost, where so much of the best and the brightest aren't going to make the world a better place but cash in, pay off their student loans and move on to better material lives.

Should clarify, I don't think Dog Day Afternoon is all over the place, it's perfect the way it is.

ok i watched The Dog documentary finally and holy shit. what a…i don’t wanna say piece of shit but yeah maybe piece of shit? proof that if you tell yourself something enough you can just force it to be true.

the real hero of the documentary is Frank’s brother Tony <3

I've probably asked this before: no Lumet poll? I'm sure DDA would win, but there should be one.

I don't remember seeing Night Falls on Manhattan when it came out ('96), but I must have--can't imagine skipping it. Lumet's fifth-last film...not good at all. He's remaking Serpico for the third or fourth time. Ron Liebman, Andy Garcia, and Ian Holm each get one big hysterically overwrought speech. The Garcia-Olin romance comes out of nowhere--you look away from the screen for a minute, and suddenly they're deep into a relationship that serves no purpose whatsoever.

The only interest is seeing James Gandolfini and Dominic Chianese in the same film three years before The Sopranos. No scenes together, unfortunately.

I remember Ian Holm giving his typically great performance and Liebman just behind him. Garcia gave his typically terrible performarnce.

I remember seeing NFIM in the cinema and falling asleep. The last Lumet I saw at home was the Anderson Tapes, which I think is underrated. It’s slightly less histrionic than usual, has a satisfyingly grizzly 1970s ending, and Connery is always interesting (to me) when he stops pretending to be likeable.

Garcia should stick to animation work.

no Lumet poll?

The Wiz would be getting at least one vote

Assumed you'd be Network.

around 3-5 votes will come in for Network, only one person will fess up to voting for it (me)

https://i.giphy.com/media/11mYSZihIu0q40/giphy.webp

https://i.imgur.com/uz3HzzJ.gif

NFOM is good not bad I think but it does feel like a Lumet greatest hits. It's got nothing on Q&A, Prince of the City, or Serpico as far as his police corruption pics. I've got zero memory of Garcia in this one, but remember Holm and Gandolfini really nailing their roles.

Look, I'll put my vote behind Network if the moderator agrees to leave off Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

i just watched before the devil knows yr dead

as the film gang here are always wrong abt movies i thought i might enjoy it -- lots of ppl shouting and cursing for two hours 👍🏽 👍🏽 👍🏽 -- but boy what a dumb movie

maybe the gang knows best after all

Let that be a lesson to you

Ethan Hawke's accent is a poem.

Connery is fucking scary in The Offence (rotating off Prime at the end of the month). The whole movie feels like the prototype for the whole "Dark British Police Procedural Prestige Drama" genre.