Movie Director Sidney Lumet - Poised to Make a Comeback at 82

"His book has more common sense in it about how movies are actually made than any other I have ever read."
Roger Ebert on Sidney Lumet's book Making Movies (Chicago Sun-Times)

He is considered one of the best directors of the latter half of the 20^th Century. His films reveal his finger on the pulse of police, political and social corruption in the Eastern United States. His resume includes films we are familiar with and have likely seen more then once with some famous lines in pop culture ("Attica! Attica!" "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"). Though he is a 5 time Academy Award nominee he has never won (though he is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award) putting him with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles. And at the age of 83, Sidney Lumet is poised for a comeback.

This fall comes the release of Before The Devil Knows You're Dead starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as brothers who decide to orchestrate a robbery on their own parents jewelry store, which leads to tragic events for everyone involved. The film has been playing on the film festival circuit and will hit the Chicago Film Festival in the coming week. Word out of these festivals is that Lumet has crafted another masterpiece, not really a surprise though it has been 25 years since he made what many consider to be his last. Rumors are already swirling that Lumet's film will be remembered at Academy Award time and perhaps Lumet will finally win the director prize, an achievement long overdue.

Lumet has been a solid and steady director since the late 50's who happened to go on a roll from the early 70's to the early 80's that is nearly unmatched by any other modern director. Into the 80's, 90's and 00's Lumet has been less successful both critically and commercially but with every new film there is the hope he will return to form. It sounds like he has.

Here is a look at this brilliant filmmaker's career in films.