Sidney Lumet’s 5 Best Films

By
Apr 16th, 2011

Peter Finch in "Network"

#5. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Lumet’s last film was also one of his best. Following a pair of troublesome brothers who plot to rob their parents’ jewelry store, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” refuses to flinch in the face of the humanity’s darkest inclinations. Lumet catalogued the basest of human urges with both uncompromising realism and inspiring empathy.

#4. The Verdict (1982)
How did Paul Newman not win an Oscar for this movie? If we try to answer that I suppose we’ll have to wonder why Sidney Lumet never won a Best Director Oscar for any of his films. David Mamet’s masterful script leads disgraced Boston lawyer Frank Galvin (Newman) on a stirring fight against the odds in his quest for justice and redemption.

#3. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
A bank heist goes horribly wrong when Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal (John Cazale) bungle through through the ill-planned robbery. Billed as a gritty thriller, “Dog Day Afternoon” is also laugh out loud funny and socially ahead of its time. Al Pacino has never been better and John Cazale (Fredo in “The Godfather”) is tragically brilliant.

#2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
The quintessential American movie. Lumet shared his vision of an uneasy America, on the precipice of chaos, through sharp dialogue and the electrifying presence of star Henry Fonda. An intimate, low-budget triumph of reason and courage.

#1. Network (1976)
An prophetic marvel of a film that predicts the present day media circus with chilling precision. Lumet commands one of the greatest scripts ever written (Paddy Chayefsky) with virtuoso skill. Peter Finch won history’s first posthumous Best Actor Oscar and Ned Beatty’s hilarious and prescient monologue stands as one of the five greatest diatribes in all of cinema.

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  • yermar

    Battleship Potemkin was made in 1925, not 1915

  • Crap

    AVATAR, AVATAR, AVATAR………. ?????. what are you mind? here talk about classics, movies whith a coute of art and no a piece of comercial transaction. do for the mass. a child from 5 could think like you now, ten years more and ii doubt that.

  • Stam

    Memento definitely must be in any list of this type, but this list contain a garbage and Racist movies like Birth of a Nation (1915, Griffith). this list is shit too.

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  • Terri

    Memento is an overrated hipster-bait movie. Birth of a Nation is definitely racist, but it is still one of the greatest films of all time.

  • Hani

    This is a pretty bang-up list through and through. However, I’m saddened by the lack of The Bridge on the River Kwai, Paths of Glory, and Amadeus. To name a few, anyway.

  • Giriayush

    Gone with the wind????????it has to be #1 you missed it man:(

  • Brent

    Cinema is art. The filmmakers behind these films are auteurs. You are completely wrong to assert that they are “made for an audience first.” These films are made for expression and should be judged by the success of their expression in the context of film history. nUnder this criteria, 2001 absolutely deserves to be #1.

  • Brent

    I would have added Children of Men and The Royal Tenanbaums to this list. WALL-E and the Coen Brothers should also get a little more love. I’m thoroughly convinced the Inglorious Basterds will make lists like this as it ages. Otherwise, this is a wonderful. 2001 is absolutely the greatest film ever made and I’m really excited to see a member of the Apu trilogy make an appearance.

  • Lopes A Fabio

    Maybe you should have some Nolan’s movies..nBig LebowskinLord of the rings (come one, how many academy awards?)nLe ConcertnSyndromes and a CenturynnAnd Modern Times.. please!nIt has music, dancing, comedy, drama, love, criticism..nDeserves a better place

  • http://twitter.com/AndySunshine Andrew Slaughter

    Why is Days of Heaven on this list??? One of the worst movies ever made. Sure it looks great and the cinematography is some of the best you will ever see. But the characters are selfish and annoying. The story (what little is there) is predictable and the final monologue of the movie makes no sense and has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. nBut besides that I really have no qualms with this list. It’s actually quite accurate. I love the fact that Synecdoche, NY is on here. One of the best movies ever made.

  • Ana Carina

    Me and a couple of more friends are going to see every movie of this list, in 100 weeks, starting with #100 Japu00f3n and ending with #1 Space Odissey.nI just saw Japu00f3n… I must say, although I understand with some people would find it brilliant… I did not like it at all.nMost of my favorite movies are on this list though, so.. well done (so far). I must say though, I miss Kusturica on this list. White Cat, Black Cat is one of the best movies ever. And Cidade de Deus too :)

  • Jon

    Just because a movie is racist, doesn’t mean it’s not cinematically groundbreaking or should be burned. That being said, Intolerance was better.

  • Jon

    Thank you for making 2001 #1. That is as it should be.

  • hesam

    i think maybe accidentally, name of CRASH or MAGNOLIA was omitted !!!!!!

  • Rishi851

    Like the list except for the fact that you missednna.) Satyajit Raynnb.) Ridley Scott- Alien and especially Blade Runner deserves to be up there.nnc.)The Terminator could be in the bottom end

  • http://themovingarts.com Eric

    Satyajit Ray is at #50

  • Registeredhypnotist

    All lists of “greatest movies,” especially ordered ones, are absurd. At the same time, this one feels to me like one of the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen about half of the films on the list, and all of them but one strike me as worthy inclusions. I think what I like most about the list is its inclusion of “Synecdoche, New York,” which I believe is an overlooked masterpiece.

  • Scott MacKeen

    “Children of Paradise,” “Grande Illusion,” and “The Seventh Seal” should be in the top 25 or so. And “The Curse of the Cat People” at No. 35?? Shouldn’t even be in the top 200!

  • vincent

    You seem to confuse the critical and the commercial sucess. Barry Lyndon was acclaim by critque and won several award for best movie and direction but have been indeed a flop in theater because common people are moron and unable to appreciate the art behind cinema such as wonderful compilation setting and the most realistic and beautiful reconstruction of all time

  • Vincent

    OMAI! you can’t be serious Avatar, wall-e, Dark Knight? I will just give you a hint, this is not a list of the most commercial american film sucess of the last years but a meaningful portrait of the greatest cinema masterpiece of all the best director of all origin of all time.

  • Sam

    A masterpiece need years to be considered as such andThis list have been publish in 2010 and you seriously think much of film of the last five years should be there. Ok you’ve spend a good time in waching a couple of good commercial film in theater like Avatar or Wall-E recently but it’s hilarious and childish to condidered them as earning a place among the 100 greatest film ever made and that why you recieve so much reply than anyone who post a comment there. I think this list is extrodinary because it have a good selection of masterpiece from a bit all the great master of this medium of a bit all the decades (and that’s why ”I would be blood” is there) and a bit all the culture. 100, is small number compare of all the great film that’ve been made. There could be hundred of others who could justifiably be amoug them. But because the three best of Stanley Kubrick are indeed 2001, Dr. Strangelove and Clockwork Orange so is Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Taxi Driver the best of Scorsese and that both of them are important director, because that Nolan films are nothing than brillant blockbuster and that the Wisard of Oz and Casablanca had more impact on popular culture than any others film, this list is definatly significant but you’re right some of animation films could have been there, but Fantasia or Snow White , and not Nemo or cars

  • Trodiem

    Where’s the Fassbinder?????????

  • Zacherywolf

    I always love to see the classic comment of where are my newer films.nWhy does the year it was made matter?

  • guest

    I feel that this list confuses “influential movies” with good movies.u00a0 Birth of a Nation was a terrible piece of rasist propaganda which granted legitimacy to the KKK.u00a0 Yes, it had groundbreaking cinematography for its time…yes it is a part of history… yes it was representative of a certain group of people and a way of life…nnbut out of ALL the movies of ALL time, this is the 26th best movie ever made? Seriously, not making me proud…

  • Nrwweeeed

    A list that celebrates Yi Yi but omits WALL-E, Slumdog Millionaire, The Shawshank Redemption, Schindler’s List and the like has no actual meaning. u00a0Yes, these lists are subjective, but it reads as though you don’t feel modern films have sufficient credibility to merit a placing.u00a0

  • http://themovingarts.com Eric

    Sure, anything you don’t agree with automatically has no meaning. Excellent philosophy. And movies from the 1990s and 2000s make up exactly 12% of the list, which is a pretty big chunk of “modern” films. Not sure which list you’re reading.

  • Another Mark

    One I think should make the list is Blow Up (Antonioni)

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  • Campocampana

    I like much of this list, although I’m always a bit leery of the utility of ranked film lists. I’m glad to see Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc placed, but I’m chagrined that his somewhat lesser-known Ordet (“The Word”; 1955) did not. Many critics, including those of Faith and Image, believe it to be the better film. Worth some consideration, at least.

  • Laurenticwave

    Have you actually watched Birth of a Nation recently? It hardly deserves its reputation for innovation – “Child of Paris” made 2 years earlier is light years ahead of the Birth….

  • Laurenticwave

    Thank God Lord of the Rings, Titanic, AVATAR, It’s a Wonderful Life, Shawshank Redemption, Inception, The Dark Knight etc are NOT on the list – all of them way overrated in my view, and will be forgotten in 100 years time, whereas 2001, Citizen Kane etc will be there so long as humanity abounds…

  • Jingle

    FINALLY, yes.

    2001.

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