Because I’m a professional, I worked as hard on those movies as on any I’ve done.” And, across his career, the good far, far outweighs the bad, and he got to go out on top with the gripping 2007 picture, “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” which seemed to demonstrate every trait that cinephiles loved about Lumet’s steady and mature hand. I’ve done three because I love to work and couldn’t wait anymore. There are bad films on this list, and even worse ones that we couldn’t bear ourselves to write about - the nadir being a Rebecca DeMornay/Don Johnson potboiler, “Guilty As Sin.” But Lumet was a pragmatist, as he wrote in his 1995 book “Making Movies” (a must-read for anyone who’s serious about directing film), “I’ve done two movies because I needed the money. We’re not going to sugarcoat it - not every film was a stone-cold classic. Eventually he got an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Although he was given a Honorary Academy Award in 2005, as Spike Lee (the influence on whom from Lumet can be felt in every picture) tweeted on hearing the news, “Sidney was Nominated 5 Times for Best Director and was ROBBED. His directing career stretched well over 50 years, from theater and live television to embracing digital video with his final film, 2007’s outstanding “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” Across that time, Lumet was nominated for five Oscars including four for directing (“12 Angry Men,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Network,” “The Verdict”) and one for adapted screenwriting (“Prince of the City”), but astonishingly, never won.
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