Sidney Lumet’s 10 favourite movies
A total of 14 Sidney Lumet movies were nominated for Academy Awards, including four ‘Best Director’ gongs for the likes of 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network and The Verdict and a ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ for Prince of the City. In the end, Lumet did not win an individual Oscar, but he was adorned with an honorary award by the Academy in an attempt to cement his cinematic legacy.
The Philadelphia-born director was one of the most prolific filmmakers of the post-Hollywood Golden Age era, persistently finding his place in the chair and taking the reigns on an average of over a movie per year since his 1957 debut. With that, let’s take a look at some of the films that Lumet admired throughout his life, as per Combustible Celluloid.
Lumet certainly admires Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 period drama Fanny and Alexander, which focuses on two Swedish siblings in the early part of the 20th Century. Bergman had intended for the film to be his last, and it contains within it some semi-autobiographical motives and actions.
In 1940, John Ford directed a famous adaptation of one of the greatest novels in the English language, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which was published the year before. It saw Henry Fonda take on the lead role of Tom Joad and is widely considered one of the best films of all time, a sentiment that Lumet certainly agrees with.
Lumet’s favourite film list is rather varied in terms of genre and country, and we also find a Japanese classic, Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 action epic Ran. Kurosawa co-wrote the film with plot points from William Shakespeare’s King Lear, and it tells of an ageing warlord who gives up his position of power so his three sons may decide between them who will take up the mantle.
Equally varied is the fact that Francis Ford Coppola’s original The Godfather film from 1972 makes its way onto the list. Evidently, Lumet had a profound taste for the best offerings that cinema has ever provided, regardless of its age, and we see that he admires a distinct mob drama too.
Check out the full list of Sidney Lumet’s favourite movies below.
Sidney Lumet’s 10 favourite movies:
- The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
- Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1983)
- The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
- Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916)
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
- Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
- Roma (Federico Fellini, 1972)
- Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
Science fiction also looked to be high on Lumet’s cinematic interests, but then again, who in the world doesn’t admire Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey? Still, through his admiration of the classic film, Lumet shows that he is well-versed in all genres of cinema.
